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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER 2017 2 News A debt headache for Adrian Delia to contend with CONTUNED FROM PAGE 1 Already the party was revealed to have ac- cepted financing from companies such as the db Group, which "donations" were be- ing invoiced in the form of services offered by Media.Link. The revelation comes at a sensitive stage for the PN, when Adrian Delia stated in an interview with LovinMalta.com that he would not rule out taking a salary – unlike Simon Busuttil, who relied solely on his honorarium as Opposition leader. "I think there is nothing at all untoward about someone receiving a salary for a full- time job," he said "We need to be transpar- ent in politics, but what's the point of giving gestures simply to give off an impression? I appreciate that previous leaders refused a salary when the party's finances were what they were, but there's nothing wrong in me taking a salary if we manage to create new income streams and balance the party's fi- nances." During the campaign, Delia fended off questions on his personal finances by tell- ing journalists to investigate the PN's own finances. "Financial sensitivity must be respected and the party's agreements must be adhered to," he said in a volte-face on the party's fi- nancial situation. "Four years ago, the PN was in a dire financial situation but this has been taken stock of and structured and the PN is paying every single amount of debt and obligation." Insiders who have spoken to MaltaToday however described the party's financial sit- uation as a serious one. "Delia's supporters have been given the impression they are about to find new placements inside a revamped Net TV," a source told this newspaper. "Net TV is precisely the primary reason for the par- ty's black hole. Bad management left us in the red, and employing more people there would be its death knell." According to its financial returns present- ed to the Electoral Commission under new party financing rules, the PN has declared a total debt of €8.4 million: two bank loans of €415,210 and €2,894,005 respectively and borrowing from other related parties of €2 million. The borrowing from third parties – referring to the scheme popularly known as 'cedoli' – reached €3,527,100. The cedoli scheme was a system of small loans of €10,000 at an interest rate of 4%. The money loaned under the scheme is re- payable in full at the expiration of a ten-year period commencing from the date of sign- ing of the loan agreement. In March however, it was revealed that the PN was using Media.Link to invoice busi- ness groups that were donating money to the party, in the guise of commercial ser- vices. The PN was accused of breaching party financing rules, after Silvio Debono's db Group alleged that it had been asked to pay the salaries of top PN executives, through donations "paid" to the PN's media compa- ny Media.Link. The PN claims the monies were backed up by actual commercial ser- vices rendered. This has led to the PN being investigat- ed by the Electoral Commission, with the PN insisting that it will not publish copies of these invoices, citing the privacy of the commercial arrangements between Media. Link and its clients. MaltaToday was at the time told by sourc- es privy to the commercial documentation, that Media.Link had received approximate- ly €560,000 since 2013 from two catering companies part-owned by the hotelier Sil- vio Debono – the airline catering company Sky Gourmet and Malta Healthcare Cater- ers, which provide catering to homes for the elderly and hospitals. Sky Gourmet Malta exclusively provides catering services to airlines and does not normally take out advertising. db Group CEO Arthur Gauci had said in a statement that the report was not true, and that the "recurrent amount" donated was only €70,800. MaltaToday's source had then insisted that the information was correct: "The recurrent amount is indeed of some €70,000 for two salaries, annually, over the past four years – an amount of ap- proximately €560,000." sbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt ONE of the activists assisting the Nationalist Party during the or- ganisation of its leadership elec- tions had come forward with an eyewitness account of the PN's assistant secretary-general's han- dling of voter proxies. The source, who spoke to this newspaper on condition of ano- nymity, said that Jean Pierre Debono presented over 100 proxy documents in one day, to collect the voting documents that later had to be passed on to their right- ful holders. The PN is now carrying out a reconciliation exercise after Mal- taToday requested the number of proxy documents that were pre- sented for the collection of votes for the leadership election, and how many of the corresponding ballots were cast. When asked yesterday how many proxy votes he had handled, Debono said: "I have nothing to add to what I told the commission, your newspaper and on social me- dia. I refer you to the conclusions of the electoral commission's re- port, as well as to what Simon Bu- suttil said, that in no way was the electoral process compromised." The damning report by the PN's electoral commission just two days before the 16 September election, revealed that at least one party member complained that his vote had been collected with a proxy vote, when he had not given anyone legal deputation to claim the vote. It turned out that the vote had been collected by Jean Pierre Debono. The incident raised concerns that the proxy had carried a fal- sified signature, and the com- mission chided Debono for not having verified the signatures on the proxies, or without making contact with the voters in whose name the proxies were issued, "fa- cilitating the possibility of falsify- ing the signatures on the proxies". Additionally, the commission described the incident as a "ruse" and said that Debono had passed on the voting documents to sec- tional committee members, when these should have been given to the voters personally. Debono kept this practice secret from the electoral commission, which noted that it was only the incident of the voter complaint that led to the inquiry shedding light on the illicit practice. The commission condemned the "ruse" as one that went against the commission's rules, and dubbed it an illicit electoral practice. But it also said that since voters were only allowed to cast their ballot upon presentation of both identity cards and the voting document, there was no risk on the voting process itself. That is why questions are now being asked by members of the PN's administrative council as to whether the votes collected by proxy were in fact passed on to the members with a right to vote in the election. Of all the votes collected, five per cent were not cast, totalling just under 790 votes. Cast votes 14,742 Votes collected 15,527 Paid up members 18,500 Listed members 21,500 Debono has categorically denied having falsified any signatures. "Sectional committee members, upon seeing the long queues of members turning up at the HQ to collect their votes, would hand me proxy votes of their district mem- bers so that I could hasten the pro- cess and collect the votes myself. Hundreds of these proxies were used to speed up the collection process. The committee said I did not verify the signatures of these proxy votes. It was not something possible for me to do," Debono told MaltaToday on Friday. The report, concluded just two days before the 16 September election, was revealed last Friday by MaltaToday. In a comment to The Times yesterday former lead- er Simon Busuttil and secretary general Rosette Thake confirmed that Debono could face discipli- nary action. Debono was clearly entertaining a conflict of interest in his role as a supporter of the Delia campaign while using his assistant secretary- general's influence to manage PN memberships. Debono is the hus- band of MP Kristy Debono. The president of the National- ist Party administrative council, Karol Aquilina, has said he may call an urgent meeting to look into the report of the PN's electoral commission. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt NATIONALIST PARTY •New leader still faces obstacle course for seat in the House PN carrying out exercise into total number of proxy votes issued Adrian Delia's first challenge at the PN will surely be having to get to terms with the scale of debt held by the party and its commercial arm