During the recent months, the media were awash with reports relating to corrupt practices in the public sector. The Transport Authority, the Malta Maritime Authority and two different ministries, no less, were, for a time, in the public eye, until the stories were forgotten.

Public opinion is, today, none the wiser – which is proof positive that not all is well in the state of Malta.

Accusations alleging varying degrees of corruption are flung into the air with abandon from time to time, most of them petering out or vanishing into thin air.

It is bad enough that, when the odour of corruption fouls the air, strenuous efforts are made to change the subject of public discussion. It is even worse that, when serious accusations are made, it is only very rarely that matters are referred to independent judicial investigation.

Public accountability is more a myth than a fact, and the culture of resignations is practically extraneous to our system.

Insidious culture

We know from the annual reports of the Auditor General that outstanding annual arrears of revenue due to the government run into hundreds of millions or liri, but there is no way for the tax-paying public to know, from time to time, whether the situation is bring addressed and, if so, with what success.

Meanwhile, unscrupulous citizens evade their commitments, to the collective tune of millions of liri, with seeming impunity.

Tax evasion is ingrained and is only one facet of an insidious culture. Considered in the mass, it has assumed the nature of a cancerous growth that calls for surgery.

The time has come to wage ‘war’ on corrupt practices on an organised, systematic, national scale.

Corruption undermines development, dissuades investment and destabilises the democratic process.

Anti-corruption sentiments have been rising all over the world – not only in the developing world and emerging markets, but also in advanced industrialised countries.

Retribution

In the absence of effective action, corruption is followed by retribution.

Local defences against corruption are by no means tight. The laws of prescription have been providing shelter to criminals as well as politicians, whose misdeeds are detected late in the day or are allowed to drag on interminably until they are lost in the wash.

Active politicians are required to submit declarations of assets in the interests of transparency, but there is no independent system for the assessment and the accurate verification of these declarations.

At the same time, we do not know whether or not the assets of senior civil servants, customs officials and the fat cats of public enterprises, are discreetly monitored and, whether this is in such a way as to satisfy the rules of transparency and accountability and, if so, how and by whom.

Political party campaign financing is not effectively controlled and political party fund-raising is altogether beyond the pale of the law, and vulnerable to sinister possibilities.

The steady escalation of government expenditure, involving major public contracts, exposes public officials and politicians to big temptations necessitating more rigid measures in the interests of accountability.

In short, where the situation is not messy, it is hazy. It is, to all intents and purposes, seemingly impenetrable.

Inadequate ground rules

This is a problem that must be solved and the solution calls for all-round political will, and a solid determination to break new ground.

The lack of accountability of politicians and civil servants has been considered, in the past, by the World Bank to have played a major role in preventing sustainable development from taking root in a number of countries.

Why is there no provision at Maltese law for major corruption cases to be treated with urgency in the courts, and with priority over routine cases?

What ground rules exist for the holding of workshops and for the organization of surveys, involving public sector officials, to raise awareness of the causes and consequences of corruption?

The time for a wake-up call to clean the stables seems to me to have been long overdue.

But nothing has changed. And nothing is likely to change, unless responsible politicians shake off their somnolence and move forward with resolve.

Aristotle famously said “no notice is taken of a little evil, but, when it increases, it strikes the eye”.

Aesop spoke ahead of Aristotle and gave this warning: “Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin”.

[email protected]