Approximately €100,000 in the Red — The True Cost of PN’s Helen Gauci

A political scandal is brewing in Għargħur, and it has the Nationalist Party’s fingerprints all over it.

Għargħur

Monday afternoon, the Għargħur Local Council was forced into an emergency meeting. The reason? A debt of approximately €5,000 owed to CAMC Security Limited — a bill from the time the Nationalist Party was in charge of the Council. But this wasn’t just a forgotten invoice — it was a glaring symptom of years of mismanagement, shady procedures, and outright negligence under the leadership of former Nationalist Mayor Helen Gauci.

Let’s call it what it is: a mess left behind by the PN administration.

Unauthorised Spending, No Approvals, No Records

The situation that emerged at the emergency meeting was nothing short of shocking. Services were ordered without Council approval, without any formal service order, and in complete disregard for administrative procedures.

Even more disturbing? Former PN Mayor admitted that she had verbally authorised the services — bypassing the Council and leaving behind a paper trail of direct orders that now have the Labour-led Council scrambling for answers.

What was Helen Gauci’s reaction? Instead of showing contrition or providing clarity, she did what the PN does best: she interrupted, deflected, and doubled down. Joined by her ally, Councillor Marilena Gauci, she tried to justify the unjustifiable — insisting the service was needed, regardless of the fact that no formal procedure had been followed.

Helen Gauci

A Legacy of Concealment and Financial Irresponsibility

Labour Mayor Mariah Meli, together with Deputy Mayor Francesca Attard and Councillor Christopher Fenech, rightly abstained from approving this shady payment, citing a need for full transparency and verification.

Mayor Meli also revealed a disturbing fact: Council finances had been managed through an unofficial Gmail account under Helen Gauci’s watch. That’s right — an entire local council was being run like a private side hustle. It was Mayor Meli who had to step in and insist that only the official government email system must be used for communication — a basic administrative standard that had been ignored.

And it gets worse.

Mariah Meli is the new mayor of Għargħur

Upon taking office, the new Labour Mayor and Vice Mayor Francesca Attard were immediately approached by creditors demanding payments that had been due for over two years. Incredibly, the same former Mayor who now insists on “continuity of services” failed to disclose the looming financial hole she left behind — including additional debts to LESA and the Lands Authority, totalling around €8,000 more.

Today, the overall debt burden for 2024 alone is estimated to have risen to €100,000.

Vice Mayor Francesca Attard

Nationalist Negligence at Local Level

What Helen Gauci left behind isn’t just unpaid bills — she left behind a legacy of non-transparency, ad hoc governance, and institutional disrespect. She brought the Council to the brink of financial paralysis, then walked away with the audacity to disrupt those now trying to clean up her mess.

This is PN governance in a nutshell: ignore procedure, rack up debt, leave the cleanup to someone else — and then shout from the sidelines when responsible people try to bring order to chaos.

The residents of Għargħur deserve better than this circus. They deserve leaders who manage public money responsibly, follow procedure, and answer for their actions. What they don’t deserve is the kind of amateur hour politics that Helen Gauci has become the symbol of.

Editor’s Note:

When public officials handle taxpayer money with carelessness and arrogance, they must be held to account — regardless of party. The situation in Għargħur is not a minor oversight; it is a textbook case of political negligence. As new leadership works to clean up the mess, the public deserves full transparency about who created it and how deep it goes. This is what accountability looks like.