‘No obligation’ to Vassallo over €250,000 loan, Prime Minister says

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has denied "feeling obliged" to PN donor Nazzareno Vassallo, the construction magnate whose company Vassallo Builders Group loaned €250,000 to the PN's media arm Media.Link.

In an election in which all parties have committed themselves to regulate party financing, PN secretary-general Paul Borg Olivier last week confirmed that Vassallo's construction group had loaned €250,000 to the company Media.Link.

But Gonzi, who today visited the works-in-progress at the Malta's national aquarium in Qawra which is expected to be finished by summer, told the press that he "never felt obliged and there is no reason to feel obliged to Vassallo" when asked whether the loan to the party's company created some form of political obligation.

"Companies that loan money from banks do not necessarily feel obliged to the bank," Gonzi said, who also assumed responsibility for the PN's administration's decisions.

"There is nothing strange about taking a loan. We have a commercial operation, in the same way that Labour has, and this company has commercial needs. We take out loans from banks, so there is nothing wrong here. We are being transparent."

When asked why the PN had taken out a loan from Vassallo's VGBL instead of a bank, Gonzi said the €250,000 facility was a bridging loan that was needed at that particular time. "It's something very normal in business. Nothing strange about this. This is not a donation, but a loan that must be paid back, just like a bank loan."

Gonzi did not answer to questions as to how much the interest on the loan from VGBL was.

During a press conference held later that day, Nationalist Party Executive Council president Marthese Portelli fielded questions regarding the loan. She was asked whether it might have been preferable to obtain such a loan from a bank, and whether there was anything inopportune about securing a loan from a prominent business man. She was also asked whether such a loan could influence the decision-making process of a party in government.

Portelli however sidestepped the questions, pointing instead to the statement issued by PN secretary-general Paul Borg Olivier which Portelli said "explained all the details pertaining to the loan."

Portelli similarly sidestepped questions regarding when the Nationalist Party would be publishing its campaign spending, and whether such donations would be similarly included in the published material.

"A few days ago, PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil delivered a press conference where he explained when and how these would be published," Portelli would only say.