Minister fails to explain exorbitant campaign launch spend

Culture Minister Owen Bonnici failed to reply to questions about his exorbitant spending on the official launch of his campaign as a Labour Party candidate, an event which is estimated to have cost tens of thousands of euro.

Featuring a full stage setup, customised branding decorating every surface, an open bar, live music, and a 300-unit aerial drone show, Bonnici’s campaign launch was held in Villa Bighi in Kalkara, a venue with spectacular views of the Grand Harbour.

Throughout the evening, the aerial drone show – which industry estimates suggest would cost at least €70,000 – spelt out the minister’s name and several campaign slogans, raising several pointed questions about who actually paid for the lavish entertainment enjoyed by Bonnici’s constituents.

A direct order published in the Government Gazette in 2022 suggests that estimates obtained by The Shift are actually on the conservative side, given that the government itself had paid Pyroemotions Ltd, a company which specialises in such aerial shows, €109,000 to provide “technical and logistical assistance” during the production of the International Fireworks Festival that year.

Both the Culture Minister and Pyroemotions Ltd declined to comment when approached for this story.

Besides the cost of the aerial drone show itself, the overall price tag for the event is likely to soar past €100,000 when factoring in lighting, sound, several large screens, venue rental, and live music performances.

On paper, election candidates are obliged to provide a breakdown of their campaign costs by filling in a declaration form and handing it in to the Electoral Commission after the general elections are concluded.

However, it is widely known that candidates avoid accountability for services granted to them in kind in exchange for influence and public contracts by failing to provide a detailed paper trail to justify their expenses.

In fact, during the last general elections, The Shift had analysed copies of all candidates’ expense declarations, identifying a clear pattern in which companies known to have made millions of euro from lucrative government contracts also provided direct financial and logistical support to select candidates for free.

Several candidates often fail to disclose receipts showing they had actually paid for the services they acquired.

In that context, the Culture Minister’s lavish spending becomes impossible to pin down, since the Electoral Commission does not enforce any serious due diligence protocols for either individual or party financing.

This has led to a climate of rampant abuse in which ministers seeking re-election are effectively trying to outdo each other’s spending to hold onto their mandate, creating an uneven playing field between the incumbents and any political opposition.

In Bonnici’s case, matters have been further complicated by the fact that his estranged partner and former chief canvasser, Remenda Grech, is contesting in the same district, an unusual scenario which created unease among party delegates.