The latest news from Italy as I write (Friday morning) is that no less than 60 MEPs and assistants are now being investigated for their actions over what is being mistakenly called Qatar-gate.

For there is more than meets the eye in all this. Originally the focus of investigations by the Brussels police focused on Morocco, not Qatar, and efforts to get MEPs to be more favourable to Morocco in the various ramifications of policy in the European Union.

Holidays in the plushest hotels of Marrakech, gifts galore and wads of cash are now surfacing.

Then the investigators realised there was a rich side-stream involving Qatar, at present in world focus because of the World Cup. And they hit the jackpot.

Bagfuls of cash were found lying around in the houses that were raided.

Then, predictably, came tears and denials. But while the entire Parliament was practically unanimous in voting to remove her from the Vice Presidency, Kaili's Italian partner was being interrogated and he broke down under pressure and admitted that he, together with other so far unnamed Italian MEPs had been taking cash for helping massage Qatar’s bad record on the international scene. More cash lying around was found in other flats and offices that were raided. Cash is a surefire evidence of corruption.

This case is big, huge and can do great damage to the EU just as happened in past years when the Santer Commission had to resign because of corruption.

Trust us, however, to turn this into another partisan ball-game while not even getting the facts right.

On the side of Robert Abela the focus immediately became Roberta Metsola, the president of the European Parliament, who came out with guns blazing against corruption as evidenced in this case.

For this stand Metsola had been widely praised across Malta. Abela knows he can be facing her as the PN leader in a few years’ time, so he came out attacking her viciously. She was jumping the gun and pre-empting the investigation, he said. She should have left the due processes work.

Abela gave this reaction addressing the Maltese audience. He wouldn’t repeat this when he addressed the European Council or he would have been laughed out of court.

Taking their clue from their master, One News came out with a pure fiction story that Kaili said she did what she did because she was asked to do so by Metsola. Hint hint.

But when l-Orizzont sounded out the Maltese MEPs this morning (Remember that they had all voted to remove her from Vice-president) they came out with a very different reaction. In particular Alfred Sant, the head of the Labour delegation, gave an interpretation which was very different from the one given by Abela of a very trigger-happy Metsola.

Abela has been shooting from the hip in recent weeks, such as when he brought up the Mortal Sin (Dnub il-Mejjet) issue from the 1960s to stigmatise those who questioned the abortion decriminalisation bill he was intent to rush through Parliament in the weeks before Christmas, of all days.

Now according to La Repubblica there have been frantic meetings between Socialists and Christian Democrats to bring about a bipartisan approach to the investigation. It is true that it seems most of those being investigated are from the Socialist group but there may be others from other groups. The investigation is at a very preliminary stage.

At the same time, one cannot but help noticing that from the various measures that have been summarily banned there are many that surprise by the amazing laxity that they reveal. Did it have to be this case to reveal the gross fragility of the parliament that represents the 500 million or so of the EU?

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