They will buy you a fridge or replace your bathroom or even settle your utility bill and all this to secure your vote.

This was the picture painted yesterday of some election candidates by lawyer Georg Sapiano, a former Nationalist Party candidate.

“These are not examples from outer space,” Dr Sapiano told a parliamentary committee that started discussing a Private Member’s Bill on political party financing.

The Bill was presented in January by Nationalist MP Franco Debono, who also chairs the committee.

Focusing on an aspect of the Bill regulating the spending limits on individual candidates in an election, Dr Sapiano said the current limit of €1,300 was ridiculously low and doubted whether the proposed limit of €10,000 was enough.

“When I contested the election my rival candidates used to regularly organise events and send out leaflets that make the €10,000 being proposed pale into insignificance,” he said, calling for spending limits to be realistic.

In contrast, Karol Aquilina, president of the PN’s administrative council, said as long as candidates were transparent about donations received and campaign expenses, it made no difference how much they spent.

Dr Sapiano and Dr Aquilina were two on a list of guests invited by Dr Debono to contribute to the debate.

Top officials from the three main political parties were also present including PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier and Labour Party president Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi.

But with a discussion that went from debating individual candidate spending to whether anonymous donations should be banned outright, the meeting lacked focus.

Alternattiva Demokratika deputy chairman Carmel Cacopardo said provisions allowing anonymous donations undermined other aspects of the Bill that prohibited multiple donations from the same donor that went above the limit.

“How can you regulate multiple donations if anonymity is preserved? Anonymous donations are a threat to democracy and should be banned,” Mr Cacopardo said.

Dr Debono said it went against an individual’s right of association if anonymous donations were completely banned. The Bill allows anonymous donations subject to a limit of €300, above which the donor’s name will be registered but not made public. Only people who donate more than €7,000 will be made public while donations above €50,000 will be illegal.

But AD’s concerns were shot down by representatives of the other political parties, who said it was unfair to prevent ordinary people from making donations anonymously.

This was one exchange from many, which also saw former Labour general secretary Jason Micallef ask whether property bequeathed to a political party should be outlawed.

On a point raised by Voluntary Organisations Commissioner Kenneth Wain, Nationalist MP Francis Zammit Dimech, a committee member, said fundraising activities such as telethons would also have to be regulated under ­­­the law.

Labour chief executive James Piscopo noted that the PL was already satisfying most provisions in the Bill that dealt with accounting and transparency.

“We are the only political party to publicly present our accounts and members get the chance to question every item in them,” he said, drawing a distinction between the PL and the PN.

His comment elicited a reaction from Dr Zammit Dimech, who said this was “an illusion of transparency”.

The Bill empowers the Chief Electoral Commissioner to scrutinise the accounts of political parties.

Former PN minister and columnist Michael Falzon warned against over-regulation. “Political parties should not have too much interference from the state and the regulations must not make it difficult for smaller parties to be born.”

The committee will meet again next month to continue the debate.