The President’s charity has made a legal case with the Commissioner for NGOs to justify its failure to seek an exemption before raising funds.

To collect funds, the Malta Community Chest Fund is legally obliged to obtain a government exemption from the law that lays down all fund-raising events must be covered by registration with the Commissioner. But the last time this happened was in 2013.

However, when approached yesterday by this newspaper after announcing this year’s charity Fun Run, President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca insisted that the matter was being dealt with by her legal advisor.

She would not say whether the President’s Fun Run, to be held on November 15, was covered by an exemption but insisted her legal advisor had written to the Commissioner for NGOs.

The development comes after The Sunday Times of Malta two weeks ago questioned the legality of the fundraising events organised by the Community Chest Fund without having the necessary exemption.

Voluntary Organisations Commissioner Kenneth Wain confirmed he had received the legal explanation from the Office of the President. “I have forwarded the letter to my own legal advisor for an opinion. At this stage I would not like to comment any further,” Prof. Wain said.

According to law, the MCCF needs a written exemption from the Ministry for Social Dialogue to collect funds. Yet since the change of government, this has only been given once, for the annual charity telethon L-Istrina in 2013, the ministry confirmed.

President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca at the launch of the Fun Run yesterday.

The charity also requires a police permit but this newspaper has not received replies from the police two weeks on as to whether permits were granted.

Recently, President Coleiro Preca announced the names of 38 NGOs chosen to benefit from funds the MCCF had collected.

She said this would be the last year unregistered organisations would be allowed to benefit from funding because “her office had worked to ensure the process is more accountable and transparent”. Last April, the MCCF became a foundation with the declared aim of giving its operations more visibility and scrutiny. Yet the charity’s last published audited accounts date back to 2011.

The fund does not receive any government funds but organises various fundraising activities throughout the year ranging from the popular L’Istrina to Rockestra to various bike rides and fun runs.

The collections run into millions of euros a year and are used to help individuals in their medical and social needs.

The Voluntary Organisations Act was implemented in 2007 to guarantee transparency and accountability in nongovernmental organisations, particularly those collecting or receiving government funds.

The MCCF does not need to be registered to collect funds because it is not considered to be an NGO – it has a representative of the State as its head. By definition, NGOs should be autonomous from the government.

Fun run November 15

There is cross party support for the charity fun run in aid of the Community Chest Fund to be held on a fixed date every year.

The proposal was floated by Opposition shadow minister David Agius at the launch of the President’s Fun Run yesterday.

The idea of having all sports organisations block off the date on their calendar in order not to have concurrent events on the day found immediate backing from Sports Parliamentary Secretary Chris Agius.

Both addressed a crowd of excited schoolchildren in St George’s Square, Valletta, as the President set the ball rolling for this year’s Fun Run that will again be sponsored by Banif Bank.

kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com