The Labour Party is refusing to reveal whether it has paid all the ground rent arrears connected to the properties it acquired from the government in 1979, even though it has already sold one of the properties for just under €600,000.

The party was asked about the arrears following last week’s revelations by The Sunday Times of Malta about a private deal struck in July between the Labour Party and A.H. Developments Ltd for the sale of the Australia Hall in St Andrews and 6,000 square metres of adjacent land.

According to the latest contract, Labour was obliged to pay the Lands Department an annual ground rent of €20,964 for Australia Hall and another €14,209 for the area occupied by the former Raffles disco, which has now returned to the Labour Party as a result of the deal.

Although the contract signed recently includes details of the annual ground rent due, it does not state anything about any pending arrears and who is responsible for settling them.

It is understood that Labour used proceeds from the sale of Australia Hall to settle 20-year-old debts with the Fino furniture company for the provision of furniture for its headquarters.

More in The Sunday Times of Malta.