After agonizing worry and stress for financial services and ordinary citizens hit by the indirect effect that a failure would bring, Malta has finally been given a certificate of compliance by Moneyval.

The statement reads that “Malta has achieved full compliance with twelve of the 40 FATF Recommendations constituting the international AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism) standard.”

Malta was required to report to Moneyval after an assessment in 2019 found a number of shortcomings and deficiencies in technical compliance with respect to anti-money laundering measures, transparency of legal entities, supervision, and international cooperation.

The Opposition party and in particular the civil society movements, had emphasized the importance of clearing this test, one that we absolutely could not afford to fail.  The pressure to ensure a positive result was necessary to get the legislation and change in culture needed to restructure the many mistakes of the past in the area of money laundering and the attitude and means to combat it.

But we are back at the beginning. Even as the ink dries on the certificate, we are faced with countless cases of misappropriation of public funds, illegal contracts involving public entities and prominent Ministers or ex-Ministers, direct orders piled up that look like the towers of Mriehel, persons of trust entrusted to sensitive and highly important positions without approval of parliament and without even knowing who they are. The list goes on and on.

Not even something as puerile as the Eurovision Song Contest is without controversy and questionable conduct. Not only for the sum of money involved in promoting the contestant but also in the methods employed to do that. What an insult to the public and especially to the contestant, who was led to believe that her chances were higher than they may actually have been. Merit is indisputable and the result achieved, especially in the qualifying round was well deserved.

But why, then, did they allegedly need to influence the odds if this was the case?  Couldn’t they just have done a good job of promoting the song, fairly and squarely and believing in the singer?

Maybe this behaviour arises from a sense of inferiority or insecurity.

Everything has to be done by leaning on corruption, partners in crime and arrogant ambition. 

We are at a level of boiling point. Steam is escaping from everywhere but still the lid is rattling and about to come off. We cannot go on like this anymore. 

After 2 years of wrangling and great personal cost, we have the Daphne inquiry to judge whether the State could have done much more to avoid the murder of a journalist. 

We also have the Standards Commissioner to examine transgressions in public service conduct.  He produces his verdict and Parliament does what it has to do to undo the result and avoid any accountability.

We had Moneyval and we have the Ombudsman too who reports on irregularities. There is the Public Accounts Committee and other institutions and committees, the Police and the Armed Forces of Malta and still, we are drowning in corruption and even alleged crimes which remain untackled.

To allow the Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister to continue in his position, with all the serious allegations around him, having been called in for questioning too by the police, is so disrespectful of the law, the public and the trust of the electorate that it simply becomes a symbol of the degradation of the country and in particular of the government.

The same contractor that was responsible for the death of Miriam Pace is awarded with contracts worth 1 million euros. 

The cases brought up of the contract at St. Vincent de Paul worth an inestimable amount to our coffers. Road works sanctioned with the destruction of agricultural land, trees and space that we could not really afford. Caravans parked wherever they choose. 

When it comes to Enemalta and Electrogas, we could keep going for years on the “gas” coming from it. Not even the AFM seems clean. The Prisons, housing services, the upkeep of San Anton Gardens, pavements and the take-over of Balluta Bay.

Construction and the Planning Authority are a beast unto themselves

Drugs, crime, smuggling, trafficking all receive a heavy mention.

All this needs to be tackled.  We are engulfed in a morbid world where we equal the likes of the worst countries and even exceed them at times.

If there is no political will to clean up, arrest those who still enjoy freedom from justice but who are connected over and over again to allegations of serious crimes, to re-instate order and accountability, then civil society must step in and demand that this country face a full-scale inquiry into its administration.

We need a trusted commission to be made up of neutral professionals, with a strong mandate to investigate crimes, persons, institutions, entities and all the contracts that have been made with persons who are now themselves under investigation and that have a dark cloud of fraud and theft over them. The state must reconcile with the public before we can hope for a normal democracy again.

Whatever has been stolen from the public either by individuals, whoever they may be, or by government sanctioned actions, must be returned and proper restitution made, with compensation to aggrieved victims where it may be the case.

Ignoring to do this will only drive us into a perpetuating cycle of rule by incumbency, graft and nepotism. It will come to symbolize that crime pays. It will destroy our moral fibre and cause unlimited harm now and in the future.

When push came to shove, although they were building on sand, the government built the castle as best they could, to satisfy Moneyval and not have the door shut. That is just one portion of what needs to be done. 

Above all, justice needs to be served. The public have the impression that much of what we are hearing in court is construed to pre-determined destinies. It is designed, created, manufactured to deliver the result that is needed to protect the truth from coming out. When a little leak or allegation becomes too much, then libels are used to give the idea of innocence and the bell for the second act rings.

This is possible because of the cabal around it.  It is possible because of the lack of political will to do right. It will, though, left to spread even further, become the end of life as we once knew it in Malta.  We will wake up one day, perhaps when entering another country, and realize that our Malta is the shame of Europe. It will be too late to change.