Voluntary Organisations' Commissioner Kenneth Wain cannot comprehend why the Malta Community Chest Fund (MCCF) is refusing to enrol with his office and has threatened to resign if his authority continues to be undermined.

"The years 2008 and 2009 were a struggle on my part to get the government on board to buy into its own law. If things don't change in 2010 and I reach the conclusion there is no way forward, then the honourable way for me would be not to continue as a comm-issioner," Prof. Wain told The Sunday Times.

His comments come a day after the MCCF, chaired by President George Abela, said it was not prepared to enrol as a voluntary organisation "just to satisfy the whim of whoever has a different opinion".

Reacting, Prof. Wain said: "I'm the commissioner and I take my role very, very seriously. I don't take decisions based on whims; I work with the law."

Last Thursday, The Times reported complaints by enrolled organisations in the Council for the Voluntary Sector, which said the MCCF had received preferential treatment since it had been allowed to raise funds during the marathon L-Istrina even though it had not registered with the commissioner.

The MCCF had failed to reply to questions from the newspaper before the story went to print, but the following day invoked a right of reply under the Press Act insisting it had utter respect for the law and had not registered because the Attorney General's office advised it was not dutybound to enrol.

However, Prof. Wain said this had never been an issue because the AG was right when he said the MCCF could choose whether to enrol or not.

The bone of contention centres on the section of the law that stipulates that those voluntary organisations which choose not to enrol with the commissioner would then not be eligible to any kind of subsidies, grants or benefits from the State or its entities.

Since the MCCF benefitted from extensive free airtime on the State broadcaster, PBS, it would have raised the €2.3 million illegally were it not for the intervention of the Social Policy Minister who granted it a one-off concession.

The timing of the matter was unfortunate, Prof. Wain said, but he had repeatedly alerted the President's office that the MCCF was not eligible to this kind of aid, or any other government support, such as the scheme encouraging civil servants to give a part of their salary to L-Istrina.

He also wrote to PBS saying it would be in breach of the law if it allowed this event to go ahead.

"In a situation like this, the only solution short of stopping L-Istrina, which was not something anyone wanted, was for the minister to issue a letter of dispensation, allowing PBS to let MCCF use its facilities," he said.

This letter was sent to the council, which is independent of the commissioner. In turn, it wrote back saying in the circumstances it agreed L-Istrina should go ahead, but insisted the proceeds should still be distributed to those enrolled with the commissioner.

Prof. Wain said to date he had still not seen the list of beneficiaries, even though the MCCF said this was an "unfounded allegation".

When asked for this list as well as why the MCCF was choosing not to enrol, questions remained unanswered and the President's office said it had "nothing to add" to its statement last Friday.

Prof. Wain said he was puzzled why the MCCF was choosing not to enrol when there was nothing in the law prohibiting it from doing so since it had already been established that although partly State-run, it still qualified as a voluntary organisation.

"It seems strange why it refuses to enrol... I haven't heard a reason for this. The fact that it publishes its accounts is, of course, very important and to be commended. However, accountability and transparency does not stop there," he said.

"I would have hoped the President would set an example in the voluntary sector. What's worrying is the message going out that the law does not apply equally for everybody. There are certain voluntary organisations that have to enrol to get State benefits, but then there are others, notably the MCCF and Church organisations, that are privileged because they are not enrolled but still receive government benefits.

"If we agree that we need to promote a culture of transparency and accountability in the voluntary sector, these entities should be setting the example and make themselves subject to the law... The public has a right to know why the MCCF and the Church are not prepared to enrol."

Lawyer Max Ganado, who drafted the Voluntary Organisations Act of 2007, said when contacted that although the MCCF published its accounts it should go a step further and make use of the system in the law to lead by example.

"Our challenge is to change the culture and such a move will help," he said.

SOS Malta managing director Claudia Taylor East, who was on the NGO legislation working group, also believes the law is there to be safeguarded and followed to secure good governance of the voluntary sector.

Asked if he was empowered to take action, Prof. Wain said one of the problems with the law was that the commission was "pretty toothless" as far as enforcement was concerned.

"The only thing I can do technically is draw attention to the fact that the law is being violated," he said.

However, he said that if the MCCF kept insisting it did not want to enrol, then he would, as commissioner, insist the government withheld its benefits from the MCCF and that PBS did not enter into any other agreement of this kind in 2010.

"Things have to be regularised between now and the next L-Istrina campaign or problems will arise," he insisted.

Council chairman Robert Farrugia too insisted there was a law that had to be followed and in the coming days he would be working to ensure there would be dialogue between the MCCF and the commissioner to resolve the issue, he said.

"It is important for the sector to be united and any fragmentation eliminated."