The Labour Party is breaching laws that regulate the use of electoral billboards, with thousands of euros being made from leasing them to commercial entities, the Times of Malta is informed.

According to the rules, political parties may put up election billboards without the need of a permit on condition they are only used during an electoral campaign.

By law, the billboards have to be removed a week following the publication of the election result. Also, according to the law they are only meant to be used to display political messages.

However, the Labour Party has not removed its billboards and many remain along the main road arteries, some even posing potential traffic hazards.

The same billboards are also being used to promote commercial products or services for private companies.

Billboards posing potential traffic hazards

More than 60 Labour Party billboards are now displaying commercial advertising, at a cost of about €500 a month to the advertiser, an industry insider has told the Times of Malta.

“That means that through this illegality, the party in government and their contractors are not only breaking the law but also making an extra €30,000 a month,” the source said.

The provider of Labour’s billboards is Aiken Services Ltd, a company which has been responsible for the party’s billboard campaigns since Joseph Muscat became leader.

One of the company’s owners, John Debono, was appointed Ambassador to Azerbaijan in 2014 while the other shareholders have other businesses closely connected to Labour and have been recipients of a number of government direct orders, the Times of Malta is informed.

One of the Labour Party’s billboards with enforcement notices attached to it. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

When asked, a Planning Authority spokesman said enforcement notices started to be issued and, unless removed by billboard owners, the PA will proceed to remove them at the owners’ expense.

Following the Times of Malta’s queries, enforcement notices have been affixed to Labour’s billboards as well as to others owned by  commercial companies.

The PA had previously acted immediately to remove certain illegal billboards. Last year, billboards calling for justice over the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had been re-moved within a day.

Asked why Labour was breaching the law and had failed to remove its billboards, a spokesman said: “As per law, Partit Laburista stopped using these billboards a few days after the elections. Partit Laburista doesn’t make any profit from commercial billboards.”

The spokesman did not say who was profiting from the billboards, why they were not removed and who Labour’s contractor is.

On the other hand, the billboards used by the Nationalist Party were cleared by the party according to the provision of the law.

Who provides Labour with its billboards?

John Debono

Labour has been using the services of Aiken Services Ltd since 2013.

Aiken’s shareholders are two separate companies.

The majority shareholder, Customs Brokers Agency, is owned by the Debono brothers, and chaired by John Debono known as ‘Il-Gandhi’.

In 2014, Mr Debono was appointed as non-resident Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. He had no previous diplomatic experience.

The minority shareholder is Kap Services Ltd owned by Kenneth Abela and Alan Piscopo.

The two businessmen are very close to the Labour Party and own other companies, which received direct orders from the government during the past years.