Debts at the Nationalist Party are around €20 million, but their Deputy Leader of Party Affairs remains hopeful that strong assets of €40 million will help the party out of its financial predicament.

“The PN has a financial ratio of one is to two at the moment, eventually this will go down to one is to three, so we’ll be sound. The PN will never go bankrupt, stop, or close. The figures are just a figment of imagination for some people,” Robert Arrigo said in an interview with Lovin Malta.

Previous reports have put the figure at around €34 million, but Arrigo dismissed the figure, saying the media houses played lotto with the debt figure. He insisted that the PN’s financial situation is “improving dramatically” with the party set to post a €250,000 profit for the year.

But how was the party able to turn around its fortunes during a time when support has dwindled. A core base of grassroots donors has helped with the party earning hundreds of thousands through activities and fundraisers. However, Arrigo says the party maximising the funds is behind the improvement.

“Everything we’re doing is making a lot of money. It is obviously properly controlled. All the officials are not getting paid and we have imposed very stringent budgets on the Leader’s and Secretary General’s office,” he said.

When it comes to Media.Link, the PN’s media arm, financial losses have continued but are improving, Arrigo said.

“We were losing about a million a year, which is far too much. Now this year we have managed to put down that loss to €400,000. Hopefully, by next year we will be at a zero-level. Again there were a lot of costs and restructuring has to be done,” Arrigo said.

Media.Link has 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.

Arrigo acknowledges the error and lack of transparency in the failure to publish the accounts but aims to remedy the issue by next year. The party is already undergoing a process to get their accounts in order. However, with over 15 years to account for, the process could take longer, Arrigo said.

Media.Link also carries a significant debt. Earlier this year, Lovin Malta revealed that the company owed just under €3.5 million to the state’s utility billing company ARMS.

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