The one thing that beggars belief in the smart meter tampering scandal is that more people are suspected of rigging the system in Malta, than in the whole of the United States in one year.

Stop and actually think about this. More people in an island of 400,000 people were suspected of illicit use of electricity than the gargantuan behemoth United States of America.

But what is it? Is it the shady side of our Mediterranean character, or what? Is corruption so institutionalised that it is in our blood? Maybe it is something that has gone back years and years, to times when the only way to actually get anything done was to grease someone’s palm.

Giving backhanders or favours in kind is something which seems to be endemic to our culture, as is making a quick buck. Many were shocked in the past years when judges took backhanders to alter court sentences. Many more were shocked when the extent of the oil trading backhanders was exposed.

But what about this latest scandal, your ordinary Joe Bloggs, who thought nothing of paying a grand to have their smart meter electricity consumption readings altered? It just makes you wonder. If people are happy to take such a risk, what else goes on?

We are not trying to put other entities under suspicion, but if one can bribe a judge, and if one can pay Enemalta employees to tamper with (supposedly) foolproof technology for a nominal fee, then anything is possible.

The government, on its part, is doing what it can to crack down on abuse and has pulled the rug from under many illicit activities. So much so, that it has already braced us for two more “scandals” that are set to be blown open in the near future. It is enough to make you squirm and the feeling one gets is “what next?”

The sad thing about it is that it seems to permeate every facet of our social fabric. Even when you analyze our way of speaking, it comes out again. We say, “Ghamilli pjacir (do me a favour)” and then comes the inevitable “Ghandi ntik x ihaga? (do I owe you anything?)”. It is all based on a you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours, mentality.

Some might argue that we feel it more because we are a small nation and that you feel everything that goes on around you, more so than in other countries where things are not felt as much because they are larger and everything is more distant.

But something, somewhere, seems to be not quite right. The spike in crime that we have seen over the past year or so, is worrisome. We have seen horrible cases of animal cruelty, blatant embezzlement by companies that still took money when they were going under, gangland murders, armed robberies and more. And it makes one ask... what is going on?