PN's debts can only be managed after structural reforms, new CEO says
Sabine Agius Cabourdin admits party's structures are 'disorganised'
New Nationalist Party CEO Sabine Agius Cabourdin said the party’s debts can only be managed “once structural reforms” take place.
Speaking to Andrew Azzopardi on his Campus FM programme in her first media interview since being appointed as part of a revamped PN leadership team, Agius Cabourdin admitted there was a “degree of disorganisation” within the party structures.
“Right now I’m doing an internal diagnosis – a complete check of structures – so I can understand what’s lacking, if duplicate work is being carried out and so on,” she said.
In 2017, Times of Malta had reported that the PN had set up a financial structure called the Patria Trust to give the party some breathing space from rising interest rates on its multimillion-euro debt.
In August, former party leader Bernard Grech revealed a number of PN clubs that had been put in the trust fund as collateral have been retained by the party after the associated debt was settled. He also announced that the PN’s media arm, NET, was no longer operating at a loss and is even expected to turn a profit by the end of the year.
Agius Cabourdin said she was committed to fulfilling Borg’s campaign promise of releasing the PN’s accounts by the end of November, following the appointment of an auditing committee.
One of the first items on Agius Cabourdin’s agenda is the reorganisation of the party’s assets, including properties.
“I love going into vacant properties and seeing how their potential can be realised,” she said.
Asked by Azzopardi whether the fact that her husband, Neville Agius, is a successful developer, presented a potential conflict of interest, she said her husband had been in the business for 35 years.
“It’s his bread and butter. His passion is to renovate old Maltese buildings and restore them to their former glory. In his work he tries to respect the past while harmonising with the present,” she said, adding that there should be some restrictions on development in densely populated areas.
“There are developers and developers, sustainable and unsustainable planning. We can’t say we’re against development when it’s one of the biggest economic motors,” she said.
Agius Cabourdin is a commercial and property lawyer by profession and also founded the FIDEM foundation which helps vulnerable people, especially women, by giving them access to education and mental health guidance.
She said that, in the weeks before she was approached for the role by Borg, she had already decided to take a step back from FIDEM.
“I had spent nine years giving my all to it. Two months ago I realised I had too much on my plate. Little did I know that Alex Borg would approach me for such a challenging role,” she said, adding that she accepted the offer after finding the support of her husband and children.