PN accounts will be out within Borg's first 100 days as promised, party CEO says
Sabine Agius Cabourdin previously said she hoped they would be ready by the end of November
The Nationalist Party will publish its accounts within the promised hundred-day window from Alex Borg’s election as leader, according to the party CEO.
Sabine Agius Cabourdin told Times of Malta on Friday that the accounts will be published as promised by December 15, which marks the 100th day since Borg’s election.
During Andrew Azzopardi’s radio show last month, Agius Cabourdin had said an auditing committee was working “gas down” with the “hope that the accounts can be published by the end of November".
Times of Malta contacted her on Friday to ask whether the party would be able to meet that deadline over this weekend.
Agius Cabourdine did not respond to questions about her comments on Andrew Azzopardi’s programme, but said all was on track for the accounts to be published in time to honour Alex Borg’s promise.
“Alex Borg committed himself to publish the accounts within his first hundred days as leader, which falls on December 15, 2025,” she said, adding the draft documents were finalised and are now being verified and analysed by the auditing committee appointed within the party.
“The promise to publish them by the hundredth day will be kept.”
Azzopardi asked Agius Cabourdin about the PN's accounts at around the 7-minute mark in the above video.
Labour released its audited accounts for 2024 on Thursday, noting that it had "adhered to its legal obligations" by doing so.
A years-long saga
The years-long saga revolves around the PN’s failure to submit and publish its annual audited financial statement and donation reports to the Electoral Commission for multiple years, a requirement under the party financing law.
It last published its full financial statements for 2020 and is yet to submit and publish the accounts for the following years.
The PN has offered various explanations for the long delay. When the issue was first flagged by Times of Malta in October 2023, it initially attributed the delay to a lack of human resources.
Later, under then-leader Bernard Grech, it pointed to its auditor, stating that the party had completed its part of the work and was waiting for the auditor to review and approve the accounts according to his schedule.
One of the most significant revelations expected from the publication of the overdue audited accounts is the true scale of the party's debt, which is yet unknown.
CEO tasked with financial overhaul
Alex Borg appointed Agius Cabourdin as the PN’s CEO shortly after his election in September, and tasked her with overhauling the PN’s financial situation and make better use of its assets to cut debt and be able to position itself more comfortably as an alternative government.
During her interview with Andrew Azzopardi last month, she said she was dedicating the first few weeks of her appointment taking stock of the situation to assess how it can be improved.
She acknowledged a "degree of disorganisation" within the party structures and stated that managing the debt requires "structural reforms".