Nazzareno Vassallo loaned €250,000 to PN – Borg Olivier confirms
PN secretary-general who sued MaltaToday over report of €250,000 donation from Vassallo subsidiary, confirms the PN donor ‘loaned’ the amount.
Nationalist secretary-general Paul Borg Olivier has confirmed that a €250,000 donation from PN donor Nazzareno Vassallo's construction firm was a "loan" he made to the party company Media.Link to assist its cash flow problems back in July 2012.
MaltaToday has been sued for libel by Borg Olivier over a report in January which stated that Vassallo, once a Nationalist mayor for Mosta, had approved a budgeted sum of €350,000 for expenses incurred for the PN's electoral campaign through MFCC Ltd (Malta Fairs Convention Centre).
But MaltaToday can confirm, and it sent questions to Borg Olivier on this matter, that the magnate transferred €250,000 from his company Vassallo Builders Group Ltd in June 2012, to the Nationalist Party company Media.Link.
While Borg Olivier took legal action, directors of Vassallo's subsidiary MFCC - a joint venture between his catering company Catermax and the Corinthia Group - denied the report in a signed statement. MFCC was originally run by Nexos Lighting and Sign-It Ltd and rendered a reported €1 million in services to the Nationalist Party, before Vassallo bought into 65% of the company.
Nazzareno Vassallo served as a Nationalist mayor for Mosta. His healthcare company today employs former PN secretary-general Joe Saliba, a close friend of his.
Both Labour and the Nationalist Party traditionally refuse to answer questions about their companies, citing commercial secrecy as an excuse. But it is a well-known fact that electoral campaigns are financed by donors from the business class.
And political financing was thrown on the electoral agenda after Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi surmised on the million-euro campaign the PL had launched. Both parties claim they are committed to financing laws, but differ on the level of transparency that should be employed.