The Labour Party has condemned a statement by PN Leader Alex Borg in which he “confirmed” that funds meant for employees’ tax and social security contributions were retained by the party, describing the admission as “extremely serious” and raising fundamental questions about the PN’s credibility to govern.

In a brief statement on Sunday, the PL drew attention to comments by Borg during a phone-in interview with Campus FM host Andrew Azzopardi, in which he acknowledged that the party is behind on National Insurance payments.

Borg sought to reassure workers, saying there was “nothing to worry about” as the government “steps in as a guarantor in such situations.”

A clip from the interview featuring Borg was shared by the Labour Party.

Audited accounts published by the PN last week showed that the party owes well over €500,000 in outstanding tax and National Insurance contributions relating to its employees.

“Apart from the fact that the law is clear that the misappropriation of funds constitutes a very serious criminal offence, this statement shows that the PN cannot be trusted with the governance of the country,” the PL said.

It added that after five years of breaching the law on party financing, it is now emerging that they went so far as to steal the contributions of their own workers, to cover up for the poor financial decisions they made over the years.

“It is also evident that the Nationalist Party Leader is now effectively accepting that it will ultimately be the public who will be paying for his shortcomings and those of the leaders before him,” the PL said.

“This is the Nationalist Party. It uses and discards its own workers, let alone what it would do to the people if it were ever entrusted with running the country,” it said.