Political parties’ annual financial statements will be made available on the internet to facilitate public scrutiny, following a suggestion made yesterday by the Opposition during a debate on the party financing Bill.
The detailed accounts will be posted on the electoral commission’s website whose remit will be widened to act as a watchdog on the provisions of this law. Originally the Bill proposed that these documents would only be available from the commission’s offices in Evans Building in Valletta.
However, Parliament yesterday agreed to move a step further and make the documents accessible on the internet, within a month from the date they would be submitted.
The amendment was made when the Bill clauses were being debated at committee stage. Though no decision has yet been taken on when it will come into force, the government plans to clear all parliamentary hurdles before the House rises for the summer recess.
Opposition MP Claudio Grech yesterday argued that once the parties’ annual accounts would be in the public domain, it made no sense restricting access.
He argued that parties should be treated like companies whose returns were available online. Mr Grech cautioned that Parliament would be conveying the wrong message if it exempted parties from posting their audited accounts on the internet.
Justice Minister Owen Bonnici pointed out that MPs’ declaration of assets were not published online but were still scrutinised by the media. However, he said he was willing to take the Opposition’s suggestion onboard and the Bill was unanimously amended.
Earlier, Opposition MP Chris Said argued that the commission should not be vested with the power to regulate political parties, raising concerns that sensitive information could be leaked.
Dr Said backed his argument saying that a few months ago the Labour Party got hold of an appeal which the commission was due to submit in court following a decision to award the PN two additional parliamentary seats.
‘This is not Bondiplus’
Former programme presenter Lou Bondì, nowadays a government consultant, yesterday unexpectedly ended up in the firing line during a heated debate about the party financing law.
Tempers flared when Opposition MP Chris Said questioned whether properties the Labour government had “donated” to the PL in the past should be listed as a source of revenue in the party’s annual accounts.
Justice Minister Owen Bonnici rejected the proposal after consulting Attorney General Peter Grech who ruled that those properties could not be considered as a service from a State source. Nevertheless, Dr Said insisted vehemently that the Bill should still include provisions to cater for revenue coming from such assets. At one point a visibly frustrated Dr Bonnici interjected saying “we are drafting laws and not debating on Bondiplus or Xarabank”.
Dr Said promptly replied that if the Opposition would be treated in that manner there was no scope for further debate. “You know Bondiplus much better since you gave him the contract,” he said.
The PN, he said, was ready to hand back all government properties in its possession if the Labour Party would also agree to take this step.
At this stage the Justice Minister defused the situation saying he did not mean the Opposition was not contributing seriously to the debate.