Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon is under the national spotlight right now.

Speaking in Parliament on Monday and on TimesTalk on TV he has mounted what may be, to him, his defence.

On the one hand, one may say his self-defence did not amount to much. Maybe, as he said, he has spent far too much time working at the bank than in the law courts.

One could also say that Dr Farrugia could not have a better defence in the circumstances, given what the country has come to know about the deal that left Mark Gaffarena richer by hundreds of thousands and the links between him and Mr Gaffarena.

Dr Falzon put much store about his claim he does not lie. Many of us thankfully can say so about themselves but that does not mean people outside ourselves can have that perception about us and absolutely believe us.

The Opposition has claimed Dr Falzon was the fall guy, taking the rap for others, maybe even the prime minister, his boss whose links with the Gaffarenas seem stronger than those with Dr Falzon, hunting trip aside.

So far, the discussion has centred mostly about the past, leaving the results of the current investigation and what may be done in the future regarding the Old Mint Street property.

What happened in the past, according to what has emerged, is gravely serious and firedoors that should have been there were either not here or did not do their job.

When Dr Falzon says, as he told The Times yesterday, that the Gaffarena case shows the need for reform, may be true but in today’s circumstances is neither here nor there.

It is clear once more that the close relations between people and politicians is a toxic mix with dangerous repercussions all around. One can fault the present government for allowing this but historically the Gaffarena case, as indeed the case of other individuals in this country, shows such people making the running and getting closer to the party in government. In fact, there was a time when the Gaffarenas, or at least part of them, were near the PN.

The lesson that should have been learnt but apparently wasn’t is that all sorts of firewalls should be put in place to avoid such cases of contagion. The worst thing then is for the government to try and defend the indefensible or to try and turn tables by uncovering what happened, or is claimed to have happened, under the preceding administration.