The saga revolving around the Nationalist Party’s billboards took a new turn yesterday when the contractor it used for the job filed an official letter in court claiming payment due for their removal.

R. Cauchi Enterprises Limited called on PN leader Simon Busuttil, party president Ann Fenech and general secretary Rosette Thake to pay the outstanding €15,000.

In an official letter signed by lawyer Robert Abela, the company said it was still owed the amount since the party had only paid €3,000 of the entire amount.

It said the amount was due to cover work related to the removal and dismantling of billboards and ancillary services, as well as costs incurred for the rental of cranes, trailers and other heavy machinery required for the job.

Despite promises that payments would be issued, the party had not paid the outstanding balance

The firm said that despite promises that payments would be issued, the party had not paid the outstanding balance.

The PN began the process of removing all its billboards from the streets in June after a judge refused to reissue an injunction it had originally won but had not followed up with a court case.

On that occasion, Mr Justice Anthony Ellul rejected the party’s request for an injunction, saying the billboards had been placed illegally and the party had “no entitlement” to place billboards.

The PN has instituted proceedings before the Constitutional Court claiming that a legal notice introduced by the government a few months ago to regulate the billboards was a measure to gag it.

It is also claiming that the legal notice also placed additional financial costs on the business community.

A legal notice issued on April 3 restricts political billboards to three months before an election. If parties want to put up billboards outside that period, they have to pay a licence fee of €1,500 per billboard, as is the case for commercial billboards.