The Nationalist Party has still not submitted its donation reports and accounts for 2021 and 2022, four months after the party said it “is working on publishing the accounts mentioned”.  

In October, when Times of Malta first flagged the issue, a PN spokesperson attributed the delay to a lack of human resources.  

The Electoral Commission confirmed on Friday that it had not yet received the reports.

“In connection with statements of accounts and donations reports submitted by the Partit Nazzjonalista, you may wish to note that the Electoral Commission has not yet received the said reports for 2021 and 2022,” it said.

The commission said it publishes accounts and donation reports on its website as soon as they are received.

Asked on Wednesday whether the PN had filed their accounts and donation reports, Opposition leader Bernard Grech did not give a straight answer.  

“On the party’s accounts, we will continue doing our duty as everyone should do.”  

Asked again if his party had filed its accounts by Times of Malta, Grech repeated that the party will continue “doing its duty” and that there are public entities “which are not doing their duty”.

The requirement to publish political party accounts and donation reports came in 2016 through the Financing of Political Parties Act. 

Since then, political parties are required to publish the names of individuals and companies that donate more than €7,000. Political parties cannot receive more than €20,000 in donations from individuals or individual companies. 

Political parties must present audited accounts to the regulator (the Electoral Commission) within four months from the end of their financial year. Failing to do so could lead to a fine of €10,000.  

They must also present a donation report within 60 days after their reporting period. Failing to do so carries an administrative maximum fine of €20,000. 

Grech was elected PN leader in October 2020. That means there are no publicly available accounts or donation reports for any of the full calendar years that Grech has been at the party’s helm.  

A donation of almost €15,000 from Grech to his own party was the only single political donation requiring disclosure in 2020, the last time the Nationalist Party published its donation report.

His donation represented his unspent leadership campaign funds from that year.