Probe on Libertas getting €700k of books

THE country’s political watchdog has been asked how €700,000 worth of referendum booklets given to Libertas may yet escape the law governing donations.

The Standards in Public Office Commission is to examine the status of the books, which claimed to present the Lisbon treaty in plain English, and were distributed by Libertas before last year’s referendum.

The books, given by the Foundation for European Democracy, were the subject of a report submitted to SIPO belatedly on March 30. Libertas claimed they were not biased, were offered to other parties and, as such, did not constitute a donation.