A court has dismissed a PN request to stop the Electoral Commission from holding an investigation in the wake of suspected irregularities in donations by the db group to the Nationalist Party through its media company.

The case was instituted in April, with the PN arguing that that the commission could not be judge, jury and executioner.

But the court ruled that the Electoral Commission has every right to investigate as well as impose sanctions on political parties in case of any breaches of the Party Financing Act.

Consequently, the investigation launched last year, and another involving the Labour Party, could go ahead.  

The Electoral Commission which is vested with the role of party financing watchdog, had appointed a fact-finding committee chaired by retired judge Geoffrey Valenzia to report to it.

However, it was up to the commission to decide on the merits of each case and if necessary impose sanctions.

The case involving the Labour Party stemmed from a complaint that it had used State-owned Girġenti Palace for a party meeting. The PL had also been accused of not having registered on time as a political party nor presented its donations report in terms of the party Financing Act.  

In its submissions, the PN had argued that it only learnt about the investigation about it from the media, and that it was never notified on the nature of the alleged breaches. It argued that the commission could not investigate and inflict sanctions as well, as this would be in breach of the right to a fair hearing.

Furthermore, the PN noted that the law made no provision for the commission to delegate any of its functions to a committee. For this reason the party asked the court to declare any sanction taken against it by the commission as null.

The Attorney General argued that there was no breach of the right to a fair hearing as the political parties had every right to seek redress in court, should they be aggrieved by the commission’s decisions.

During proceedings, before Mr Justice Joseph Zammit Mckeon, it transpired that investigation into the complaint involving the Girġenti Palace had been completed by May 22, 2017.

As for the case against the PN, the court heard that Silvio Debono and Arthur Gauci from db Group, had declined an invitation sent to them in July last year to submit information and documents pertaining to the investigation. It was also pointed out that the snap general election had put the investigations on the backburner for some weeks.

In its 147-page judgment the court held that the Electoral Commission was completely independent and impartial from the political parties.

The suspicion raised by the PN that whenever a vote was taken in the commission, the result was always five votes in favour and four against did not amount to sufficient proof that the commission was biased, the court said.

Moreover, Mr Justice McKeon noted that in view of the fact that the commission’s decision could be challenged in court, was enough to show that there was no breach of the right for a fair hearing.

The court also held that the appointment of the committee whose remit was strictly limited to gather information, was not tantamount to the commission delegating its functions or being in breach of the constitution. For these reasons, the PN’s request was rejected.

Government welcomes decision

In a statement the government welcomed the decision and urged the Opposition to cooperate fully with the commission on the investigations launched last year.

This was, after all in line with the cardinal principle of the rule of law, the government said.

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