Former minister urges MPs to donate to PN

Nationalist Party MPs should donate two months’ worth of parliamentary wages to help pay party employees’ salaries, PN MP Jason Azzopardi has suggested. That would moisten the party’s dried-up coffers by €95,000, before tax. Although the party has not made its accounts public, the amount it owes creditors is substantially greater than that. Four weeks ago, the PN admitted taking out a €250,000 loan from construction magnate Zaren Vassallo. Party officials told a staff meeting last week that their March wages would only be paid in April. Around 150 people work for the PN and its affiliated companies, including a number of part- timers who are expected to be the first to feel the restructuring pinch. Full story in The Times.