What the Sunday papers say…

MaltaToday reveals that the Nationalist Party’s initiative to seek financing from small loans of €10,000 on an interest rate of 10%, will fall outside the scope of recently enacted party financing rules. In another story, the newspapers says CCTV footage shows a horrific beating in the centre which shows that at least five people were involve in a fracas which saw a 20-year-old man, Nicholas Aquilina suffering serious injuries to his face, while on the backpage, the newspaper reports that delays in rescuing injured strays in increasing Gozo animal deaths.

The results of MaltaToday’s survey show that the majority of Maltese people agree with euthanasia for patients suffering from terminal illness and disagree with the church’s teachings on contraception, but overwhelmingly agree with the depiction of religious figures like Mohammed and Jesus Christ in satirical newspaper cartoons.

Sunday newspaper Illum says the Maltese government is expected to sign a bilateral agreement with Algeria on tourism. The newspaper also interviews Charles Xuereb, who says that the Brussels attacks showed that Europe had not learned anything from the horrific terrorist murders in Paris in November.

The Sunday Times of Malta says a new centre-left party may become a reality just a few weeks away and will be represented in parliament by former Labour MP Marlene Farrugia. The newspaper also reports that an investigation that remains hidden from public view concluded that junior staff at the agricultural department came under undue pressure to sign a document that enabled MEPA to issue an ODZ permit.

The Malta Independent on Sunday says that according to a European Parliament study, Malta recorded above average EU corruption levels, and could be losing 11.67% of its GDP – or €975 million – to corruption every year.

It-Torca claims ‘big packets of money’ arrived at the Nationalist Party’s headquarters when the development boundaries were re-drawn in 2006.

Nationalist news organ il-mument says energy minister Konrad Mizzi is at the heart of a new case of conflict of interest. It also says that in three months, the government ‘robbed’ motorists of €35 million in high fuel costs.

Labour newspaper Kullhadd says the new loans scheme unveiled by the Nationalist Party last week intends on bypassing regulations in the new party financing law, which regulates donations and not loans.