[attach id=238463 size="medium"]Nazzareno Vassallo. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli[/attach]

The Prime Minister yesterday said a Nationalist-owned company had obtained a €250,000 commercial loan from one of construction magnate Nazzareno Vassallo’s firms in 2011 but denied it was a donation.

Lawrence Gonzi said this was a commercial transaction for Media.link Communications.

“This is no donation but just a loan that the Nationalist Party is paying back,” he said, when questioned by journalists after an article appeared in the press.

Dr Gonzi said that since the PN, like Labour, operated commercial companies, it also had to take loans to sustain its operations. Despite this loan, the PN did not feel in any way obliged to Mr Vassallo or any of its companies, he said.

Mr Vassallo, who runs Vassallo Group and Care Malta, had in the past served as Mosta mayor for the PN.

Dr Gonzi was also asked about the head of security services Godfrey Scicluna, who suspended himself over an “involuntary traffic accident” that took place in Paola last June. The man died on Saturday night from natural causes.

The Prime Minister said the police had acted correctly and investigated the case so thoroughly that action was being taken in court.