They have both said that they have won, or that the Auditor General has ruled in their favour.

We're talking about the latest report, which was submitted to Parliament this week, which dealt with a request by the Public Accounts Committee and independent candidate Arnold Cassola for an investigation into how public money was spent by the Malta Film Commission.

Following the publication of the report, the PN said the Auditor General had found that the Malta Film Commission lacked a solid strategic and business plan related to expenses in connection with the Malta Film Week. The commission had failed to provide account records so much so that the Auditor General had been unable to determine the full cost. The commission had also failed to show that the millions spent for Malta Film Week provided value for money. The PN also said that the report showed how the commission had serious governance deficiencies and did not bother with transparency, accountability and regularity.

Taking a different approach, the Labour Party said the Auditor General had dismissed the baseless and senseless attacks by the PN intended to undermine investment in the country through a cash rebate offered to producers of films. The PL said that the Auditor General had come to agree with the Film Commission that for every €1 spent on cash rebate, a foreign film generates €3 for the Maltese economy. The report, according to the PL, also recognised quality job creation.

In a nutshell, the PN says the report justified its complaint, while the PL says that there was nothing untoward in how the Malta Film Commission operated. As usual, the two main political parties highlight what suits them best, trying to score some points.

But the report does bring up, once again, how public money is used. It was only this week that a report by a different institution, the Standards Commissioner's office, discussed a €500,000 direct order given by Transport Malta, saying there is evidence that the entity broke its own rules on procurement, and that no prior approval had been sought from the Finance Ministry, as was required. The direct order was for an exhibition related to what were plans for a mass transportation system in Malta, a subject which we dealt with in our editorial yesterday.

Again, the Auditor General does highlight deficiencies in the way public money is being spent, in this case by the Malta Film Commission, which does not really have a positive track record in such situations. We all remember how much it tried to avoid saying how much it had paid an entertainer in 2022, going as far as taking the matter to court (at public expense) until it was forced to cough up the amount.

Public money belongs to all of us, and anyone spending it should be held accountable for his or her action. But it seems that this is not given priority by the government and its entities.

As the Standards Commissioner said, public procurement regulations should be changed to create penalties for those who bypass them. And the Auditor General has called for the Malta Film Commission to be governed through more comprehensive and strategic planning and for "robust audit trails" to be created.

Will the government listen?