Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia on Friday said an “intensive” due diligence process had put him in the clear and shown he was fit to contest the upcoming leadership race. 

The due diligence report, which in most instances did not independently verify the various allegations about Delia, said the Opposition leader still had outstanding tax dues. 

Asked how much he still owed to the taxman, Delia said he would be sitting down with a journalist on Saturday to deal with all these questions. 

He attributed the late filing of his tax return for 2018 to separation proceedings with his estranged wife. 

Delia said he had been far more transparent with his tax affairs than other politicians. 

Speaking during the launch of his campaign, Delia said that during his three years at the party helm, he had managed to turn around its financial woes. 

He said that when he first took over as leader, the biggest question was what would become of the PN’s clubs in various localities. 

Delia said the clubs had been successfully commercialised and should yield €250,000 in income for the party next year.

He said the PN’s media wing was expected to break even next year. 

Party membership had risen from around 19,000 to 26,000 during those same years, and the target over the coming years was to make the PN the largest party in Malta. 

He also gave an overview of the reforms to the PN’s structures, including a revamped statute. 

Delia vowed to continue fighting the “plague of corruption” engulfing the government. 

He said every contract touched by Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi needed to be investigated. 

Delia hit out at both the Vitals Global Healthcare contract as well as the power station deal. 

The due diligence report, published on Thursday, said that if Delia continued to communicate with power station investor and 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech after November 2018, it would constitute a serious lack of judicious behaviour by the PN leader and undermine his credibility and that of the party in the fight against corruption.

No reference was made by the panel to the fact that the veracity of the messages between Delia and Fenech, published by Times of Malta, had been confirmed in court. 

In a later press conference, the Labour Party the due diligence process. 

It said it was clear from the report that PN members did not have much of a choice between Delia and Grech. 

Labour said the report confirmed both candidates had "evaded taxes".