Parliamentary Secretary in the Finance Ministry Tonio Fenech yesterday said that Labour leader Alfred Sant’s allegation that he had used the National Lotteries Good Causes Fund to satisfy his own personal interests was an “outright lie”.
Mr Fenech called a press conference yesterday evening, claiming that the Labour leader’s allegation was “totally unfounded, intended to damage his integrity and only used for partisan reasons”.
On more than one occasion this week, including yesterday evening, Dr Sant, as well as other members of the MLP, accused Mr Fenech of having given the go-ahead to the National Lotteries Good Causes Fund committee, to contribute funds towards the organisation of the Valletta vs Juventus football match held on 9 January.
Dr Sant’s reasoning was that the match was organised by a commercial company, Renaissance, and that some of the tickets for the football match cost about e116.47 (Lm50) so this company did not require financial assistance to organise the football match.
Dr Sant had said the fund is meant to contribute towards organisations like Caritas and the OASI Foundation, for example, which, in Dr Sant’s words, are certainly in need of more funds than a commercial company organising a football match.
So Dr Sant accused the parliamentary secretary of contributing these funds to satisfy his own personal interests and his constituents.
However, in a firm and categorical denial of this allegation, Mr Fenech said that contrary to what Dr Sant had said, the National Lotteries Good Causes Fund, regulated by the Lotteries and Other Games Act, is aimed at “helping out various individuals, agencies or organisations that have a social, cultural, educational, sports, philanthropic or religious activity”.
The fund generates its income through a percentage contributed from the amount of tax payable from gaming activities and unclaimed prizes.
“This is a good causes fund, not a charity fund and does not exclude commercial companies. There was nothing illegal about the decision to contribute towards this cause,” said Mr Fenech, adding, “maybe the Labour Party is against the organisation of such activities”.
He explained that in return for the contribution, the organisers of the football match provided the National Lotteries Good Causes Fund with 2,000 tickets, by means of which children from 50 football nurseries could attend the match for free.
“I must point out that of these, only three nurseries are from my constituency, which is the eighth electoral district, not the first district that includes Valletta, as the MLP has tried to suggest,” said Mr Fenech.
He said that between 2005 and 2007, the fund contributed e4,819,459.59 (Lm2,068,994) towards 500 different causes. A further e568,063 (Lm243,869.45) went towards 50 other causes last month.
Mr Fenech stated that no company, organisation or individual that benefited from this fund has ever made a financial contribution towards his personal electoral campaign.
He said the statement issued in reply to Dr Sant’s allegation – particularly that made during the Labour Party’s Extraordinary General Conference, published on One Television on Thursday – was sent to the TV station. Should it not be transmitted in accordance with the Press Act, he will initiate criminal proceedings against the station.