With one scandal after another following hot on the heels of the last, and with the Prime Minister failing to take the kind of action required of the leader of a country in each and every instance, one really has to wonder whether the Prime Minister is really in control of his own people and government.

The latest scandal involving the Prime Minister’s chief of staff is a case in point.  There can be no more ifs, ands or buts; no more excuses that the man comes from a business background and as such is not beholden to the basic tenets of good governance: the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri absolutely must step down of his own accord, or be shown the door by the Prime Minister.

Short of that the government must suspend Mr Schembri from his duties at the Office of the Prime Minister until a real, thorough investigation into his affairs is conducted and he is absolved of any and all accusations of impropriety.

The Prime Minister’s insistence on standing by his man in this case has gone beyond the absurd and his dogged stance is raising a number of serious questions.  Many are now wondering if there is more to that insistence than a simple question of saving face.

That Mr Schembri had not been cut loose in the immediate wake of the Panamagate scandal, or even asked to undergo a mere audit, is inexplicable.  But if such action is not taken now in the wake of the fresh accusations levelled against him over the last two days, the situation will become beyond reprehensible and verge further into the territory of the downright suspect.

The accusations levelled against Mr Schembri smack of sleaze of the highest order: graft between the government, as represented by Mr Schembri – an elected person or not, and the country’s largest-selling newspaper.

The claims that bank accounts and financial structures were set up in secretive offshore locations for the laundering of the ill-gotten money allegedly deviously accrued by Mr Schembri and the newspaper’s managing director are purely of a commercial nature.  If those claims had stopped there, it would, by and large, be an internal company issue.

But with the accusation of political favours during the 2013 general election - more specifically accusations that the newspaper leaned toward the Labour Party in the last election because of this dubious partnership between the newspaper’s managing director and the Prime Minister-in-waiting’s chief of staff-in-waiting – the whole story becomes potentially far more sinister and, yes, a story of national importance.

It had taken the newspaper in question a matter of mere hours to send the accused managing director out on leave pending the conclusions of a quickly-launched independent inquiry.  But the Office of the Prime Minister, over 24 hours later at the time of writing, is yet to utter a word.

Now if an independent, privately-owned paper like The Times suspends its managing director over this alleged debacle, why is the Prime Minister not doing the same?  The fact that he has not speaks volumes - not only to the conspiracy theorists out there, but to the public at large.

The Times’ editors yesterday made an unequivocal statement to the effect that the newspaper’s commercial and editorial arms are distinctly separated and that its management has never imposed editorial decisions. We can appreciate that statement because that is the very same ethos employed unfailingly at this publishing house.

Of course, it is no secret that The Times is this publishing house’s biggest competitor. Nevertheless, this newsroom stands foursquare and in full solidarity with our colleagues, the journalists in The Times’ newsroom, whose professional integrity should not be questioned despite the very dark clouds hanging over them. 

Having said that, whatever befalls the newspaper in the wake of this still-unfolding scandal it is of little concern to the nation as a whole.  But how the government reacts, or fails to react, to these fresh developments is, in fact, another matter altogether and one that has national and political repercussions - and rather serious ones at that.

While the opposition had not, at least not by the time of writing last night, officially reacted to this latest wave of allegations, Alternattiva Demokratika has done so and we support its statement that: “Our country's security and democracy are at stake. It would be totally irresponsible on the part of the Prime Minister if Keith Schembri is not suspended immediately and kept away from all the state information in Castille.”

The Prime Minister has adopted a slightly different tone of late when it comes to good governance in the wake of the stinging Panamagate and last Sunday’s ‘protest against corruption’, promising that things will be done differently from here on in. 

Well, Mr Prime Minister, here is your chance to prove it – your litmus test if as it were.  It is time to, as the adage goes, put your money where your mouth is and cut Mr Schembri loose until he is exonerated from the multiple accusations he is facing, if at all.