Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/881840
25 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2017 Opinion of literally begging on a street corner) is regular fund-raising marathons: and even these may be threatened by the ongoing internecine feud, which will no doubt put off potential 'investors' in future. When I occasionally bring such matters up with PN exponents during interviews, the answer I normally get is that the PN also has assets to counter-balance its outstanding dues. It owns property in the form of (inter alia) clubhouses in practically every town and village in the island, which amount to more than 25 million euros in value. Leaving aside the curiosity that some of the 'other creditors' alluded to in that paragraph are landlords who have been owed rent for some of those clubhouses for decades – funny, how you can claim to 'own' something you can't even afford to rent, huh? – well, what's stopping the banks from foreclosing on those loans, and seizing the properties in question to pay it off ? That's what would happen to any other commercial entity under the same circumstances; it's what happened to Price Club in the 1990s. There are only two reasons I can think of to make an exception in this case: and neither is particularly pretty. The first is that the banks are simply comfortable with a situation that places them in theoretical 'ownership' of one of Malta's two political parties. Bearing in mind that (however remote that possibility seems today) the PN might one day get back into power... allowing it to persist under such circumstances may be viewed as a 'sound investment'. The second is roughly the same as the pretext not to press criminal charges against international banks during the 2008 crisis: 'too big to fail '. Whatever its current predicament, the PN constitutes Malta's main Opposition party. If it combusts, a vital component of the democratic process combusts with it (at least, in the short term). It could, of course, be a combination of the two. Either way, we are left with Malta's main Opposition party entirely controlled by its creditors, including powerful international financial institutions that rely on governments to set interest rates, etc. I can see the advantage for the financial institutions, naturally. What I find slightly harder to spot is the advantage for the country. OK, enough about the banks. Next up, it's the tax authorities. The PN also owes 6.5 million euros in unpaid National Insurance contributions. Now: I won't pretend to be 'shocked ' when pointing out that this, as far as I am aware, constitutes a crime. If so, the PN is hardly the only guilty party. But I would be a little shocked to discover that the stipulated penalties were not applied in this particular case. Chapter 318 of the Civil Code goes into very specific detail about fines for unpaid NI arrears: it's too complicated for any detail, but since 2000 the fee has been calculated as a percentage of "the total difference obtaining from the rate at which such contributions were paid and the applicable rate due at the time when such contributions were due." However that works out in practice, though... it's still money that has to be paid, over and above the missing NI contributions. Those are the penalties faced by lesser mortals: I would like to think they apply in this case, too. (Note: I checked the 'exemptions' schedule, and there is no mention of political parties any where). The real issue, though, concerns those PN employees who will sooner or later reach retirement age. Will they get a State pension? If so, who will pay for it? The same party that has, at various points, been unable to pay even their monthly salaries? (Speaking of which: what makes Adrian Delia so confident the PN will be able to pay his own wage, any way? Hmm...) But I've left my biggest bugbear for last: because, unlike the Inland Revenue Department or the banks, debt with ARMS Ltd is something we ALL have to face: no matter what. With the situation as it is – Enemalta being a State monopoly, and all that – just to use electricity in this country automatically means to owe money to ARMS Ltd. So we don't even need to consult the Civil Code to find out the penalties for failing to pay for it. It's a reality many among us have faced before: you get three warnings, then it's lights out until you cough up the money. Oh, and they also slap a 160 euro reconnection fee... on every property that has a meter. Well, that's what happens to us lesser mortals. But not, it seems, to political parties. Here, I can include Labour, too. ARMS Ltd recently disclosed that it is actually owed 3.5 million euros by political parties: we can account for at least two million of that figure; so unless Alternattiva Demokratika left the hairdryer on full blast for 20 whole years... it's pretty safe to guess who owes the rest. Did Labour and PN ever get their electricity provision cut off for failing to pay an astounding 3.5 million euros in utility bills? As has happened to me... I mean, to people I know... over unpaid arrears of as little as 1,000 euros? I think not. Unless their kazini are all equipped with in-house generators, it's plain to see they're all guzzling electricity like there's no tomorrow... without paying a cent for it, still less any reconnection fees. Because for political parties... there really is no tomorrow when it comes to paying off debts. The banks will never foreclose; the tax authorities will never come down on them like a tonne of bricks... and ARMS Ltd would cut off its arms before issuing a warning addressed to either the Stamperija in Pieta', or Mile End up the road. Instead, they will squeeze you and me to compensate for their failure to collect other people's debts. And you're still worried about Delia's financial situation? HA! For political parties there really is no tomorrow when it comes to paying off debts. The banks will never foreclose; the tax authorities will never come down on them like a tonne of bricks...