Media arms of Malta’s two main political parties have not filed their official accounts for more than a decade, Lovin Malta can reveal.

Both the Nationalist Party’s Media.Link and the Labour Party’s One Productions have failed to submit an official report of their end of year accounts to the Malta Business Registry (formerly under the MFSA) for a number of years.

The last accounts filed by Media.Link were in 2003/2004; for One Productions in 2010. Sources have claimed that both companies are mired in financial difficulty.

Companies are obliged to keep proper accounting records and to deliver a copy of their annual accounts, along with an auditors’ and directors’ report, every single year. The maximum penalties for failing to submit the account are €2,329.37 annually and €46.59 per day. It is the registrar who decides the fine.

Publishing accountancy records provide crucial information to shareholders and the public, while also guaranteeing a small degree of financial transparency. It would be even more important for political parties to do so given the vested interest of powerful lobby groups and wealthy benefactors.

Speaking to Lovin Malta, a PN spokesperson insisted that the Media.Link is “currently carrying out an active exercise to bring its financial statements up to date and once the exercise is completed will file with the Malta Business Registry”. However, the PN gave a similar reply to Malta Today back in 2017.

The PN spokesperson did not reply to questions about the party’s current financial position.

The Labour Party, on the other hand, did not even acknowledge questions sent on the issue.

Why do you think these media companies are not publishing official accounts?