Former PN secretary general Paul Borg Olivier confirmed with The Malta Independent that Cities Entertainment co-owner Mario Camilleri had given the party a “good-faith” donation of €1,000.

Cities Entertainment were the operators of Cafe Premier.

But PN MP Francis Zammit Dimech denied he received any donation from Mr Camilleri to fund his personal campaign. “All donations received by myself in the run-up to the MEP election were collected and donated to the party on 1 May 2014 during the televised fund-raising marathon organised by the party,” he said.

Dr Borg Olivier pointed out that the PN accepted the donation but not in return for some future settlement between the party and Mr Camilleri. He said a receipt was issued to Mr Camilleri on 9 May, 2012.

“The donation was perfectly legitimate,” he said.

The Times reported that Mr Camilleri, the man who brokered the Café Premier deal, denied giving money to the Labour Party, saying, that he had made a donation to the Nationalist Party. He also said that the only candidate he donated a sum of money to, that of €1,000, was to Dr Zammit Dimech for his MEP campaign.

Dr Borg Olivier said that strangely enough, the party which received a donation from Camilleri acted accordingly and did not interfere in matters concerning Cafe Premier, while the PL in government – responsible for having withdrawn the Cafe Premier court case instituted by the PN – did not receive a pre-election donation from Mr Camilleri.

“I will leave it up to the people to judge who is credible here – if it is Joseph Muscat or the PN,” Dr Borg Olivier said.