Updated Sunday 6.30am, adds Delia's Facebook post

Dar tal-Providenza has rejected a €500,000 donation fronted by former Opposition leader Adrian Delia on behalf of a Tunisian trading group, after the company failed to provide information required for due diligence checks. 

The charity organisation said that following the donation pledge by Catco Group during its Festa ta’ Ġenerożità fundraising event on New Year's Day, it had contracted an audit firm to vet the offer.

"Id-Dar tal-Providenza was informed by the firm that the chairman of the Group did not provide the relevant information requested from him as part of a verification process, and therefore Id-Dar tal-Providenza, while appreciating this kind gesture, is not in a position to receive the donation," it said in a statement on Saturday.

Dar tal-Providenza said it had informed the administrative secretary of the Archdiocese of Malta about the development, and revised the final sum of its fundraising event downwards to €2,031,540.

The massive donation pledge grabbed headlines when it was presented by the former Opposition leader, who said he had been working on the initiative for weeks and that he aimed for the donation to become a recurring one.

Catco Group, which was recently announced as the new sponsors of the Sliema Wanderers football club, describes itself as a player in the oil, gas and automotive industry in the Middle East, Africa, and the Gulf States. 

Delia said he was introduced to the group by the Sliema club president Jeffrey Farrugia. 

During the same fundraising event, he also presented a donation of €22,775 raised by his own team.  

In a post on Facebook, Delia said that he had not made any personal gain from the donation but had accepted to make the pledge on the group’s behalf. He said that following the Dar tal-Providenza statement, he has requested information from the company.

Blaming some in the media “who only want to cast doubts”, he promised not to stop helping those in most need and said that his reply to those who wanted to be harmful was that he would work harder.