Debono angered by report on party financing

Nationalist MP Franco Debono yesterday disassociated himself from a draft Bill on party financing slammed by the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption watchdog, insisting this was not his work.

The Group of States Against Corruption (Greco) pointed out inadequacies in the draft Bill, such as that it made a distinction between donations from party members and ordinary individuals.

An infuriated Dr Debono said the Greco report was based on an old draft that was never meant to be sent out and which had since been revised.

“This is not my draft and I disassociate myself fully from it,” he said, adding that his version not only satisfied Greco requirements but went beyond them.

Dr Debono, who had originally been tasked with drafting the law, had filed a crude document with the government’s law drafting unit.

He said it was then substantially “diluted” to the point that he decided to rewrite it himself, something MPs and even ministers rarely did.

In the meantime, however, the “obsolete” draft was mistakenly sent to Greco for review.

The government last night said the draft presented to Greco, upon their request, represented the “state-of-play” at the time when Greco undertook the evaluation (between October 17 and 21). At that stage it was the only draft available to the Office of the Attorney General.

“In the meantime further work was being carried out by Dr Debono who has now finalised a draft Bill which is being fine tuned by experts. The government intends to publish the draft Bill for public consultation after referral to the Parliamentary Group.”

Dr Debono is still threatening to stop supporting the government in Parliament unless the Prime Minister divides the justice and home affairs portfolios as the first step towards a wide-ranging justice reform.

The Prime Minister has kept mum about his intentions, though that could change when Parliament reconvenes after the Christmas recess on January 18.

However, the focus now seems to be shifting onto the party financing law, which Dr Debono is very passionate about and has been campaigning for since his very first speech in Parliament in May 2008.

If the draft law remains on the shelf, the problems between him and the Administration are likely to escalate.

On Monday, Dr Debono said on TVAM that the Nationalist Party could not afford to go to the election without enacting the party funding law.

In response, a spokesman for the Prime Minister had said this was an important item on the government’s agenda and the draft Bill was being “fine tuned by experts”. It would then be published for public consultation after referral to the parliamentary group.

Meanwhile, sources said the draft Bill was vastly different from the one criticised by Greco, both structurally and in terms of details.

Dr Debono’s draft stipulates that political parties must register all donations exceeding €300 made from any one source in a calendar year.

When aggregate donations add up to more than €7,000, the names of the donors must be made public by being given to the Electoral Commissioner. Donations of more than €50,000 in one year would not be permissible.

On the other hand, the law submitted to Greco says only donations of more than €3,000 should be publicly declared and the name of the contributor would only be made public if the contribution exceeds €10,000.

Dr Debono’s draft makes no distinction between donations from party and non-party members whereas the draft seen by Greco makes party members exempt.

The Debono draft encompasses various other aspects including that political parties must be formally registered after satisfying a number of criteria, including the submission of proper accounts.

The draft also speaks about party discipline and says no member can be expelled from a party without a process of ascertainment of facts and opportunity of defence within an independent tribunal.

His Bill sets more realistic thresholds for candidate spending, an issue that sparked controversy during the last MEP elections when the expenditure of certain candidates was publicly questioned.

The Labour Party said it had not seen a draft of the party financing Bill nor was it ever consulted. It wondered which draft the Prime Minister supported.

“Such equivocal episodes, which have now become the order of the day under the Gonzi government, are symptomatic of the mediocrity of the present Administration,” the party said.

It said there should be no distinction between party and non-party members and the donation thresholds must be realistic, not set to pay lip service to regulating party financing.

The draft seen by Greco, Labour said, “consciously creates loopholes”.