Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/542972
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 JULY 2015 10 News Financing law still allows parties to spend large JURGEN BALZAN FOR decades, Malta's two major political parties have depended heavily on private donations for financing, opening themselves up to justified accusations of being beholden to contractors and big business. Donors spent large on untrace- able donations to allow them to buy influence in governments and dictate terms to politicians to ben- efit their special interests. Tomorrow, legislators will ap- prove a long-awaited party financ- ing law with all parties agreeing that the Bill will guarantee ac- countability and transparency, and that follows contributions in par- liamentary committee meetings even from Green Party representa- tives. But the Opposition and Altern- attiva Demokratika agree that the law still has a number of flaws, es- pecially on the nature of the regu- latory body that will oversee party financing rules. The three parties all agree that the proposed law is an effective tool to regulate what is a completely un- regulated area, but the PN and AD are disappointed that a number of proposals were not approved. "The bill's biggest flaw is the proposal to have the Electoral Commission act as the regulatory body," AD's deputy leader Carmel Cacopardo told MaltaToday. "The Electoral Commission is composed of members from the two major parties, so how would one expect the commission to be vigilant on the parties?" Cacopardo asked, suggesting that it should be the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, together with Par- liament's Standing Committee on Standards in Public Life, to oversee party financing. Similarly, Nationalist MP Clau- dio Grech described the Electoral Commission's role as regulator as an anomaly. "The Commission is made up of the political parties… making the parties in charge of scrutinising themselves. This, in our view, is not only illogical but could lead to partisan recrimina- tions in due course." The Opposition proposed the ap- pointment of a Commissioner for Ethical Standards to fulfill this role, appointed by a two-thirds majority of the House. Grech added that the failure to cap electoral campaign expendi- tures of parties was a "let down" because the draft law "encourages parties to relentlessly chase fund- ing for their campaigns." The PN proposed a cap of €2 mil- lion for general elections and €1.3 million for the combined European and local elections, but Grech said "government was adamant not to introduce this cap." Justifying the government's re- luctance to introduce such a cap, justice minister Owen Bonnici said: "Once a cap has been intro- duced on donations by a single source, why should parties be muzzled and prohibited from col- lecting as much money as they possibly can?" While welcoming the changes approved, including the prohibi- tion of donations from secretive companies or trusts, Cacopardo expressed disappointment at the law's failure to make a difference between parties which receive substantial donations and have a professional setup and other parties such as AD which have a yearly turnover of not more than €10,000. "The law has a one-size-fits-all approach and it is clear that the Bill is designed on the basis that what is administratively suitable for the PN and the PL has been deemed to be suitable for all par- ties," he said. Cacopardo also pointed out that state financing was a distant pros- pect, given that only parties in op- position agree with the idea. Pointing out that during the pre- vious legislature the Nationalist government was against the idea while Labour was in favour of state financing, he said the roles have now been reversed. Asked whether the PN would be proposing the introduction of state financing, Grech said the Op- position's first objective is that of ensuring that when the law comes into force all the necessary proce- dural and administrative elements are duly put in place to guarantee that the spirit of the law is reflect- ed in its implementation. "The government has still to ta- ble the detailed forms and tech- nical documentation on how the parties are to submit the financial information to the Commission. Invariably, the PN will be coming up with further proposals – based on international best practice – on how we would be further enhanc- ing this new law," Grech said. jbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt Major changes approved at committee stage • The annual cap from single donors reduced from €40,000 to €25,000 • Financial statements, returns and donations greater than €7,000 will be published online • Parties cannot accept donations from secretive entities (e.g. Foundations, Trusts, Nominees) • Parties cannot accept donations from entities in which the State has a minority stake • Parties must submit reports subject to internationally accepted accounting and auditing standards No more SMSs, hunters to declare bird catch in geo-tagged phonecall MIRIAM DALLI THE government is seeking to de- vise a system allowing hunters and trappers to report their catches via a telephone call, which would also record the approximate geographic location of the caller. The Environment Ministry has issued a call for tenders – worth €119,000 – for the design and im- plementation of a hunting and trap- ping licensing and telephonic game reporting system. The system could be in place and operative as early as this autumn – if the government chooses to open the trapping season and go against the European Commission's argument that opening the season will be in breach of EU law. Based on the tender specifications document, the Wild Birds Regula- tion Unit (WBRU) also plans on re- placing the carnet de chasse booklets with an identification document, an electronic database of licensed hunt- ers and trappers and a telephone game reporting system. It also appears that the govern- ment has acknowledged that the carnet de chasse system leaves much to be desired: "Whilst the hunting and trapping community has, over the years, become accustomed to the present format, the tool is of- ten criticised for suffering from a number of shortcomings. The book- let is not professionally designed, and its layout, format, functionality and user-friendliness may be further improved." Although the government in 2013 lifted an obligation imposed on hunters to wear an armband, it now wants to develop an identification system – in the form of an ID card – which would be issued to licensed persons for a period of five years. The number would be linked to an online database, accessible to the WBRU and the Police. The database, which will be linked with the telephonic game reporting system, will bring together the pres- ently disjointed databases of licensed persons held by the various units of the police and the WBRU. The reporting system – replacing the text messaging system – would see hunters or trappers making a tel- ephone call. Only licensed persons will be able to make the call, which would be automatically received and processed by the system in accord- ance with the particular regulations that govern each season. The data obtained from this system would then be entered into the licensing database. Upon verifying the iden- tity of the caller, the system would prompt the licensed person to input the species caught and the quantity, and to confirm the report. The calls will be split according to the type of licence carried by the caller and the applicable daily or sea- sonal quotas for each licensee. Reports that exceed a quota shall not be accepted, and the caller shall be reminded of his quota obligations via a voice prompt. Reports shall only be accepted dur- ing any particular season for spe- cies that can be hunted or captured during that particular season. For example, during the spring hunting season for turtle dove and quail, only these two species can be reported by licensed hunters. If the national quota for a particu- lar species is reached in any given season, the system shall notify all licensees licensed for this species by means of SMS that the quota has been reached and no further reports of these species are accepted. The system would also record the approximate geographic location of the caller according to the list of coded locations specified on a map grid distributed to each hunter and trapper. Each location shall be coded and recorded in the database. Party convention time – party financing law takes one-size-fits-all approach