The Nationalist Party is not only seeing red because of the heavy electoral defeat but also financially, informing employees their March salary will be paid sometime next month.

The news was broken during a staff meeting addressed by general secretary Paul Borg Olivier and financial controller Antoine Borg on Maundy Thursday. They informed them about the financial dire straits the party and its companies were facing, forcing the PN to postpone paying the March salaries.

When contacted, Dr Borg Olivier would only confirm that the meeting was held and that “employees were informed of the temporary postponement of the salaries due at the end of March and that will be paid in April”.

He also confirmed that Media Link Communications, which runs the party’s television and radio stations and the daily newspaper In-Nazzjon and weekly paper Il-Mument, would be restructured.

Dr Borg Olivier would not reply to any other questions, saying the information being sought was of a commercial nature.

Employees who attended the meeting told The Times that the party’s financial situation had worsened over the past months, adding that this had long been coming. They said that, although they always got paid, it was not the first time that the salary was deposited a few days later.

However, they noted that the situation was never so bad that the management decided to call a meeting for all employees.

During the meeting, held on the fourth floor of the party’s main offices in Pietà – ironically, the PN often criticised the Labour Party of meeting contractors on the fourth floor of its headquarters in Ħamrun – the employees were also informed that the PN administration would be the last to get paid.

Media Link’s restructuring was “inevitable”, they said, with the part-timers being the first to suffer the blow. Sources said the party and its companies employed about 150.

The sources said that, although the employees had been promised they would be paid in April, they were not given a specific timeline.