In another twist from cuckoo land, a place where having the national orchestra playing the Supreme Leader’s favourite songs is considered as normal behavior by many, a member of cabinet yesterday insisted that no politician should shoulder the responsibility in a case where a ministry official was allegedly caught asking for bribes.

This newsroom has revealed how Charles Spiteri, who was politically appointed by the Office of the Prime Minister and seconded to Galdes’ secretariat, was allegedly asking people for bribes of between €400 and €600 to get social accommodation.

The case becomes more serious when one considers that the ones being asked to pay were supposedly low-income families who needed social housing. The individual had allegedly been on the cut ever since he joined Galdes’ outfit.

When quizzed by one of our journalists on Wednesday, Galdes immediately shrugged off the notion that political responsibility has to be shouldered.

He told this newspaper that the police were now investigating the case and the individual (Spiteri) has to face the music on his own. Case closed.

While it is true that a police investigation has been launched and the police are going over the evidence, including a recording handed to them by Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, this does not absolve politicians from all responsibility.

One can argue that Galdes should not shoulder that responsibility because the individual in question was politically appointed by the office of the Prime Minister, not by him personally. Whatever the case, it is highly unlikely that someone in office will say that they assume part of the blame for Malta, as we all know, has refused to embrace the culture of resignations.

One can almost certainly say that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will not shoulder this responsibility. Muscat often claimed to have shouldered responsibility in the Panama Papers scandal, yet the two persons involved, Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri, remain by his side to this very day. The PM has even been accused of endangering the country’s economy and reputation by retaining them by his side.

Ironically, the Parliamentary Secretariat for Social Housing falls under the direct responsibility of Family and Social Solidarity Minister Michael Falzon, who happens to be the only Labour politician who resigned over the misdeeds of a subordinate since 2013.

Michael Falzon had, after weeks of pressure, resigned over revelations that a member of his secretariat, ‘King of the Lands Department’ Clint Scerri, was involved in the infamous Gaffarena Old Mint Street scandal.

But he had done so reluctantly, and kept accusing the National Audit Office of mounting a ‘witch hunt’ against him. In any case, the resignation did not last long, as Falzon was again given a cabinet seat after last year’s general election.

Not all cabinet colleagues acted like him, however.

There is, for example, the ongoing investigation into claims of bribery by Edward Caruana, a former canvasser of Evarist Bartolo whom the minister had given a job at the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools. Bartolo insists he should not shoulder the responsibility.

In that other famous case, Manuel Mallia had refused to resign when his driver/bodyguard, Paul Sheehan, had chased after a driver, shooting at him from a moving car, over a nicked mirror. Ultimately, Mallia had been forcibly removed by the PM over the way the case was handled.

So who will be shouldering the political responsibility in this case? Probably no one.