PL, PN rake in almost €2 million in telethons
Franco Debono blasts 'shameless' parties
Updated 8.30am with Debono statement
The two major political parties collected record sums in their traditional mid-December fundraisers on Sunday.
Labour Party CEO Leonid McKay said his party raised €1,130,016 in its 12-hour marathon.
Nationalist Party leader Alex Borg said his party had raised €730,384.
Both parties hailed the amounts as a record.
In thanking Labour supporters, Abela also unveiled a plaque marking 30 years since the building and inauguration of the party headquarters in Ħamrun. The PL also announced that it will launch a podcast in January entitled Isma’ Dean. It will also allocate a space on the first floor of its headquarters for a library and a museum of its history.
Meanwhile, Borg thanked supporters for their generosity. He pointed out that in his first 100 days as party leader, the PN had collected €1,253,000.
Borg is marking his first 100 days today with a rally outside PN headquarters. In keeping with a campaign promise by Borg, the PN is also expected to publish its accounts on Monday, something it has not done for five years.
In a reaction, former MP and lawyer Franco Debono said the Party Financing Law he had drafted remains "paralysed" as the two parties continue to fundraise and shamelessly flaunt their figures.
"How are we supposed to know whether there were donations made in breach of the law yesterday if the law is paralysed?
In a social media post Debono added: "I will repeat myself so that everyone understands. You should be ashamed. A ridiculous country choking in ignorance. A brainwashed people. Not even a third-world country. Shame."
Debono had proposed the party financing law to parliament as a private members' bill back in 2012, when he served as a PN MP. It was passed into law as the Financing of Political Parties Act in 2014.
Among other things, the law forbids any individual or entity from donating more than €25,000 in a calendar year, requires parties to note the identity of donors giving more than €500 and disclose the identity of donors giving over €7,000. It also forbids political parties from receiving anonymous donations.
But the law has been hobbled for the past years after a constitutional court ruled that the Electoral Commission cannot act as prosecutor and judge in party financing cases.
The government has so far failed to revise the law to bring it in line with that judgment.