The Ċedoli scheme launched by the Nationalist Party as a public financing mechanism is about to hit the €3 million mark.

The figure was given by party leader Simon Busuttil in an interview with The Sunday Times of Malta as the PN prepares to launch itself into electoral mode on September 21, Independence Day.

Simon Busuttil. Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

The funds are generated from €10,000 loans offered to the party by individuals, who receive four per cent interest in return.

Dr Busuttil said the lending scheme had proved “extremely successful”. This success, he added, allowed the party to distance itself from political patronage and finance itself in a clean manner.

“This allows me to get rid of the party’s old debts, to restructure its finances and it frees me from political obligations.”

The scheme was heavily criticised by the Labour Party over lack of transparency, as names of lenders are not published.

But the Nationalist Party leader brushed this off as free marketing for the scheme. He in turn accused the party in government of “focusing a lot on buying political patronage”.

Dr Busuttil insisted that under his leadership the party was not financed by “the Gasans and Tumases of this world” with a clear reference to the people behind the Townsquare and Mrieħel high rise projects.

Public lending scheme frees me from political obligations

“Five high rise buildings were granted to one family in one day. It smacks of a pre-electoral deal. Under the PN those permits wouldn’t have been issued,” he said.

“I am in no businessman’s pocket. I never was, I am not and I never will be. I will never engage in pre-electoral deals,” he insisted.

He expressed his faith in people, saying the majority could see beyond traditional party lines and distinguish right from wrong.

“There can be a different way, and that’s the principled approach.”

The country, he said, was facing a crisis of principled leadership, and the PN campaign would be based on a vision of a just society that strives for excellence.