Leaders distance themselves from overspending controversy

The police and the Attorney General "do not and should not" require the go-ahead of the government to investigate whether candidates overspent in the European Parliament election, according to the Prime Minister.

Lawrence Gonzi was asked by The Times whether he would be requesting the police or the AG to investigate whether EP candidates, including elected ones, spent more than the legal limit in the June 6 election campaign.

His reply contrasts with the approach adopted on other occasions, such as last September when the Prime Minister asked the police to investigate claims of hunting abuse made by a German anti-bird slaughter committee.

However, it is not just the PM who seems to want to avoid getting directly involved in this controversy. Opposition leader Joseph Muscat has also refrained from commenting publicly and when asked by this newspaper what he intended to do he shifted the onus onto the Electoral Commission.

"The PL trusts that the Electoral Commission can fulfil its job to see that all the rules are abided by," Dr Muscat said.

The repeated requests by this newspaper and sister paper The Sunday Times for candidates to reveal their campaign expenses have largely gone unheeded and the controversy is proving to be an embarrassment for the two major parties.

Dr Gonzi did say that he expected all candidates to abide by the law.

"This includes the regulations on campaign expenditure limits for the European Parliament Elections, which are set in the relevant Legal Notice, and the oath that must be taken in relation to campaign spending," Dr Gonzi said.

On Friday, Nationalist candidates Edward Demicoli and Frank Portelli declared before a magistrate that their campaign expenses were in breach of the electoral law.

On one issue, both Dr Gonzi and Dr Muscat agree: campaign spending needs to be reformed.

"We truly believe it is time to radically review the current regulations within the context of a review of party financing. This work should be done in the Select Committee, without further delay," Dr Muscat said.

Dr Gonzi said electoral reform, which also includes candidates' expenditure limits, was being discussed with the Opposition in the Parliamentary Select Committee with a view to "improving existing regulations where possible".

What stage the discussions in the secretive Select Committee have reached is anybody's guess but campaign expenditure rules were not changed before the last EP election and candidates were expected to abide by them.