Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil announced this morning that the Nationalist Party has set up a commission to analyse and submit proposals on party financing.

The Commission, which will be lead by retired judge Giovanni Bonello, will also examine the ways politicians are financed.

The details of the commission will be ironed out over the coming days.

The setting up of the commission follows The Malta Independent's suggestion in today's leader in which the PN was urged to appoint an independent inquiry to establish the facts related to the ITS site case.

The announcement comes after the DB Group, who are behind the construction of the ITS site in St Julian’s, requested that the PN returns the donations it was given to the by the company after the Opposition Leader called on the Auditor General to investigate the contract of the transfer of land. DB Group has claimed that the PN used the funds to pay Secretary General Rosette Thake and CEO Brian St John, something the political party categorically denies.

Speaking after visiting the Careers & Research Expo 2017 at the University campus, the PN leader said that the inquiry will be asked to draw up recommendations which the party ill consider for inclusion in its electoral manifesto.

“I did not create this mess and I want to clean it up,” Dr Busuttil said.

When asked by the media about big businesses donating to the PN, Dr Busuttil said that “There are a number of individuals, families, professionals, and business owners who donate to the nationalist party.”

The Nationalist Party, he said, received a total of 1 million euros in donations during 2016, all of which had been declared to the Electoral Commission. More than 900,000 euros of them were small donations of less than 50 euros.

This, he said, was not only a reflection of the PN’s commitment to transparency but is also in stark contrast to the ruling party who have yet to provide their list of party donations to the Electoral Commission.

The Malta Independent asked Dr Busuttil whether or not he was a proactive or reactive politician given that he took action of both Dr de Marco and Toni Bezzina allegations only after the information was revealed to the public. 

“I am absolutely proactive, and this proposal shows that I mean business when I say I want to change the system,” he replied.

When asked by The Malta Independent whether he would set up an internal inquiry to evaluate if Dr de Marco, who was the lawyer of DB Group, acted in good faith, Dr Busuttil said that investigations of such sort will be included in the commission's remit.