This paper normally steers clear of partisan controversy and focuses on business stories about what many people in Malta and abroad do for a living, which is more than enough to fill up an entire issue every week.

But there come times when it is impossible not to get involved and impossible to abstain from comment.

The issue which is raising controversy and public comment at present was spurred by the National Audit Office report on what we may call the Café Premier bailout but actually is far wider than that. It concerns the unhealthy relationship between private enterprise and the executive.

In a way, the experience of past years tells us that the really dangerous time in our country is in the hours and days before a general election, rather than in the immediate aftermath of the election.

For the hours or days preceding the general election see both government and Opposition straining for the last vote and being faced with demands they may have rejected in the past but which now suddenly appear to be within reach.

This was the time when the deal was signed for the construction of the Gozo Channel ships.

This was the time when the relocation of the Monti was bandied to and forth and claims and assurances were given.

This was also the time when, according to most readings, an agreement was reached regarding a very sticky affair, that related to the iconic Café Premier which had fallen into disuse and disrepair. It would seem this was the time when somehow a deal which was very advantageous to the individuals concerned was struck through which the succeeding government then paid six times more than it was owed.

Widening our view further, the other events of the past weeks have shown us the corrosive bad example set by those who should be the ones to uphold justice and rule of law and who on the contrary are anything but that in their private lives.

How can a citizen who pays his dues accept these things being done in flagrant disregard of the laws? How can a citizen who faces fines and interest payments anytime tax paying is delayed accept that some are more equal than others in this Maltese animal farm? How can a citizen who tries to inculcate into his children respect for laws and for lawmakers stop his children from doing what the others, specifically the betters, are doing or have done?

There used to be a rule that in the weeks preceding a general election no appointments are made, no decisions are taken, and especially no contracts are signed because they would bind the incoming administration. This rule has been more observed in the breach than in the observance.

Of course, such scandals do happen in all countries of the world, as the international media tells us, but that is no consolation at all. First of all, not many other countries have the government sector occupy such a large percentage of public life. No other country, probably, has this hothouse atmosphere as we do. In no other country we can think of are politicians so accessible and pervasively present as they are here. And while scandals do occur in other countries, you would have to think about it before concluding that politicians get away with it most of the time, especially if they then are the winners of the election.

Past administrations have tried their best to stop the rot with all sorts of rules and regulations. There has been some improvement, but then again we fall back into the same cozy backroom deal like in the best Mafia-style film.

It is only through heaping public shame that maybe can turn the culture of 'omerta'' into a more respectable manner of administering the public good.