In addition to the predictable and foretold collapse of the Azure Window, this week we have had the collapse of the hitherto cosy relationship between politics and business.

Or at least between some politicians and some businessmen.

For the average member of the public, who perhaps see just the news bulletins of their favourite station and get their knowledge of what is happening from that spin-saturated medium, it is rather difficult to see what they have made of this querelle.

In one corner we have the Seabank people and in the other corner the Nationalist Party. Until four or five years ago, the Seabank people were held to be fervent Nationalist supporters. They are now being portrayed as corrupt and sleazy. There are some who are far worse than them. They, or rather their head, Silvio Debono, started off from a small bar in Għadira, then a small hotel and bit by bit grew and grew.

I distinctly remember when they went to Mepa to get a permit for the huge expansion of the Seabank Hotel in one corner of Mellieha Bay. They brought with them both the former PL mayor and the then PN one, plus Vince Farrugia and Paul Abela from GRTU, plus many shop-owners from Mellieha who all argued that these are Mellieħa boys who had done well, and they deserved to get this permit

And get it they did, despite the opposition from environmental groups who argued that the sandy bay should have been left intact. That battle had long been lost, ever since the British - for army logistics reasons - had widened the small road that followed the shore line around the bay. There was the issue when Austin Gatt wanted to build a new road that would have cut through or destroyed the bird sanctuary but perhaps saved the bay from further erosion.

Anyway, the permit was issued and I was present, some years later, at the hotel's inauguration. Lawrence Gonzi, in resplendent form, was there. I had - have - my doubts about the hotel as it was built: too sprawling, with a huge swimming pool when guests could have just crossed the road and swum in the real sea. It was purposely built as a resort where guests would have no actual need to get out as it had enough restaurants, etc., to keep guests happy and amused throughout their entire vacation.

But people seemed to like it and its occupancy is at a very high rate in every season. Silvio Debono is backed by a very good numbers-cruncher, Arthur Gauci. I used to meet them at the Bugibba San Antonio Hotel which used to hold press briefings on a regular basis. I also used to meet chairman of the board Edward Scicluna there as well - who some wit once told me was there to keep the shareholders from fighting with each other.

Which brings us to the here and now. The Seabank Group is now the db Group and has switched (like most of Malta) from PN to Labour. The group has now switched its attention from Mellieħa Bay to St George's Bay which is due to receive huge redevelopment and upgrading. I doubt the validity of this plan, considering it is a bay and a promontory in an area already full of accessibility problems. That was why the ill-fated overall plan for Paceville and St George's Bay was proposed, and quickly buried under a mountain of complaints.

Anyway, the db group came up with the idea of buying the whole ITS area and redeveloping it into a luxury six-star hotel, and more apartments. ITS is going to be moved to Smart City, where a larger site will be built by the government also including a hotel (nobody seems to have asked the students and staff if they agreed to this relocation).

The crunch came when other developers and hotel owners complained that the ITS site was being sold cheap compared to the price per square metre of the other hotels in the same area. The Leader of the Opposition, as was his right and duty, asked the Auditor General to analyse the price for ITS along with allegations that the price was not really €60 million, but a far smaller price up-front, with the rest coming in later in smaller amounts.

Just a few hours after Dr Busuttil announced this, Arthur Gauci sent him a message demanding the return of the money the db group had given the party. It then transpired that the group had been paying the salaries of two highly-placed party officials all along. This had not been declared by the party according to the party financing law. There was also a secondary, and further embarrassing revelation, that the amounts paid by the group had been split into a small contribution and a larger, supposedly business, transaction against advertisements, which turned out to be a sham.

Now the db group, imitating and outbidding Minister Chris Cardona, has launched no fewer than 19 libel suits against Daphne Caruana Galizia - who has taken the side of the party and its leadership - and has been fulminating against the group. Another crowd-funding initiative seems to be imminent to help her finance the ensuing legal fees.

In the meantime, for Dr Busuttil there was the additional nightmare that involved his own deputy Mario de Marco. It turned out that Dr de Marco was the legal representative of the db Group when they were negotiating with the government over the ITS site.

So assuming that Dr Busuttil had been previously informed of this background (not everyone believes this, and there is also the quandary over whether Dr de Marco then resigned from the brief on his own account, or did so when asked to do so by his party leader) it took some courage, and then some, to go head-to-head over the issue.

All along there was the government spin machine working at full blast, querying why was it that every time the other deputy leader, Beppe Fenech Adami, was under attack a mysterious attack was mounted on Mario de Marco. And asking whether there were other big companies bankrolling the PN leaders. And whether the PN was extorting funds from companies threatening to do to them what it did with db, unless they coughed up.

This is obviously only one side of the coin. The other side, with so many meetings on the fourth floor at CNL, so disgusted Anglu Farrugia that he resigned.

On the PN side, this week's events lead to some deep reflections. The most simple of these should be that before it mounts an attack on a company, it must first of all see if it is in debt to it. Or else that the party must become self-sufficient and cut off loss-makers with a vengeance - something it has failed to do during these four years of exile.

And, of course, it must structure its relations with business on a more transparent level (transparency is the other big victim of the week, along with the Azure Window) making it clear that it stands for a level playing field for everyone, regardless of donations to the party coffers.

But the PN would be taking a seriously wrong step, were it to become an anti-global party, against any business because it is business. Its own supporters, its history and tradition, are definitely against this. It is for free enterprise, for a level playing field but it must also warn its donators that it is for justice and equality. In other words, giving the PN a donation is no leg-up, regardless of what the other party may do.

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