Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/800760
JURGEN BALZAN THE Nationalist Party has not denied that the db Group subsidiary it invoiced for €70,800 for "programming" on its media – in return for an alleged donation to pay off party executives' salaries – is Sky Gourmet Malta, a company which exclusively provides catering services to airlines and does not provide any services to the general public. MaltaToday is informed that the financial transac- tions under investigation by the Electoral Commission will be centred around invoic- es issued by the PN's media to Sky Gourmet, a subsidiary of db Group owned by Silvio Debono. The company does not normally take out televi- sion advertising. The PN is being accused of breaching party financ- ing rules, with the db Group insisting that it was asked to pay salaries of the PN execu- tives, through donations that were "paid" to the PN's media company Media.Link, but which were not backed up by actual commercial services rendered. While the PN has denied the allegation that commer- cial services were not ren- dered, the db Group has said that it has invoices to prove the donations paid via the PN's media company. Joseph Muscat has gone as far as de- scribing the affair as fraudu- lent given that no service was rendered. Newspaper post PAGE 5 FULL-TIME MPs? ZIPPO SWAP MEET 8-9 April, 2017 Open all weekend at Ten Green Bottles Special discounts on Zippos throughout April For more information contact us on 2146 7111 or zippo@nmarrigo.com SUNDAY • 19 MARCH 2017 • ISSUE 906 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY €1.40 PN donations hailed from 'publicity shy' catering fi rm Avoiding confl icts of interest means putting MPs on a full-time job. But do they really want to stop their private gigs? Paul Cocks pays homage to the sweet ricotta-filled fritters - the 'sfinga' YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT Franco Debono Labour fi res up the engines in rally for party faithful PG 2 2 3 14 15 HAPPY ST JOSEPH'S FEAST! Under Labour, corruption concern at all-time high JAMES DEBONO A MaltaToday survey shows that concern on corruption has reached an all-time high, being mentioned by 30% of respondents. This represents a 12-point increase over the figures for last October. Concern on traffic remains the most pressing issue but has declined by five points since October and is now nearly at par with corruption. Respondents were asked to name the two greatest prob- lems facing the country, without being prompted with a list of answers. The survey also shows a nine-point increase in concern on parking which has now surpassed concern on the cost of living and immigration. This may reflect the impact of rampant development in towns and villages on scarce parking space. The survey also shows a six-point increase in concern on crime which came in the aftermath of two incidents in Jan- uary and February involving car bombs. It also shows a one-point increase in concern on the Pan- ama Papers affair in the aftermath of the Pana committee visit, which was mentioned by 5% of re- spondents. PAGE 9 MALTATODAY SURVEY Traffic most pressing concern, but corruption up by 12 points SUNDAY • 19 MARCH 2017 • ISSUE 906 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY YOUR FIRST READ AND FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT SUNDAY • 19 MARCH 2017 • ISSUE 906 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY maltatoday 6 13 PHOTO CHRIS MANGION €112,000 FOR THIS (do we even like it?) The party fi nancing reformer says the country is not yet ready for state fi nancing for parties