Flyers requesting donations to the Labour Party were being included in ground rent bills sent to tenants by the government, the Nationalist Party charged today.

The PN said it has asked the Data Protection Commissioner to investigate this "shameless abuse of power" by the Property Department, which falls under the remit of Planning Parliamentary Secretary Deborah Schembri.

The department later denied any involvement (see below).

Shadow minister Jason Azzopardi and PN spokespersons Clyde Puli and Ryan Callus said this case showed how the Labour Party was being given access to personal information... and that the PL and government had become one and the same.

They called on Dr Schembri to explain the breach of data protection, and noted that the Property Department had already been involved in political scandals concerning Cafe' Premier and an Old Mint Street property expropriated from property developer Mark Gaffarena. 

Secretariat's denial

In a reaction, the secretariat headed by Dr Schembri said the department has for several years made use of services provided by Maltapost.

Maltapost is every month handed a soft copy of rent bills which Maltapost prints, folds and puts into enveloped for mailing. No department employees are involved and therefore no abuse of power as claimed by the opposition could have taken place. 

The department said no letters or additional documents were sent to Maltapost for distribution with the bills. This could be confirmed by Maltapost which had been asked by the Acting Director-General of the Property Department to investigate the Opposition's claims. 

The Valletta Labour Party Club in a separate statement said it sent a circular to its members only. The circular was distributed by Maltapost and was not distributed with government documents, the club said. The club published a receipt issued by Maltapost.  

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