A party financing law came into effect this year but the mentality of political parties, it seems, has yet to catch up.

Last week, as happens every December, both major political parties held their annual televised fundraisers, with the Labour Party collecting €611,497 and the PN raking in €620,319.

Both fundraising marathons raised eyebrows. The Labour Party, for example, has been accused of going to big businesses, including those who have won government contracts, with brown envelopes.

The PN fundraiser, on the other hand, raised eyebrows because of the huge amounts delivered at the very end by the party’s Secretary General Clyde and Deputy Leader for Party Affairs.

The latter collected €144,000 and the former some €58,000. The money purportedly comes from smaller fundraisers, such as coffee mornings, that would be held throughout the year, with the final amount presented to the party in December.

This newspaper approached the Arrigo and Puli and asked them to state the total amount raised at every fundraising event that contributed to the sums they presented during the fundraising marathon. We also asked for a list of those who contributed more than €50 and if there were any companies and businesses who donated.

One must keep in mind that the Party Financing Law, proposed and enacted by the current government, stipulates that no party is allowed to receive donations by the same person/entity exceeding €25,000 in any given financial year. The law also obliges political parties to publish, through the Electoral Commission, the names and the total amount donated from individuals whose donations have exceeded €7,000, and donations received from corporate entities.

For those who have donated between €50 and €700, the party is required to keep a list of these individuals but is under no obligation to publish them; it is not obliged to keep a record of those who donate less than €50.

The reply we got was practically standard: ‘the funds were collected in line with the party financing law and all receipts have been kept.’

Arrigo also had the audacity to question our journalist’s intentions when the latter kept pressing for answers.

This is, to say the least, highly unsatisfactory from a party that preaches so much about transparency. Then again it is not that surprising coming from the party that created the dubious cedoli scheme and was caught taking huge donations from the db Group.

In that particular debacle, there is suspicion that the PN breached the Party Financing Law, because the amount received from the db Group is around €70,000.

This newspaper had every right to ask for that information and the Nationalist Party was obliged to give us that information.

Accusing journalists of having bad intentions is certainly not the transparent and accountable way the PN has pledged to introduce. Besides, when politicians go on TV waving cheques that run into tens of thousands of euro they cannot expect the press not to ask questions.

A blanket answer to the effect that everything is in line with the law is not exactly reassuring. It is pointless to insist that you are not in breach of the law if you do not actually prove it.

It was good yesterday to hear Adrian Delia say that the PN will start giving an overview of its finances, so that those donating are given an explanation on how and where their money is being spent.

The party should have done this a long time ago but then again it is better later than never.

We also hope that both parties, and not just the PN, become more open about their donations and their spending and observe the recently introduced law to the fullest.