The thousands of liri lost through the refund system happened when VAT was first introduced 1995-1996 under John Dalli. Many businessmen bought expensive cars and claimed thousands of liri in VAT refunds. I can still remember my neighbours doing it. The Labour government removed the refund system (and made a mess of the entire VAT system). Anyway, after the recent mess at the VAT Department we still cannot say that VAT is working to perfection. John Dalli couldn’t resign from opposition.

Malti eccellenti, bir-regoli l-godda b’kollox kiteb das-sinjur. Ma tantx jidher xi persuna li ‘ftit tghallem skola’. Mhux dak is-sinjur li dejjem se jmut, emm ghandu jkun jismu Frans (Sa mmut!) dan hux?

Min hu bhal Eddie!

Didn’t this guy say “bbye dont worry I wont write on this site” anymore” further up? Why is he still here?

[Daphne – Married, are you? Try sleeping with another woman and telling your wife that it’s not against the law any more and that there’s no criminal investigation into your behaviour.]

I am not trying to excuse anyone or explain anything here. I am just trying to warn against being deflected from the real priorities which the country is facing, and this is not one of them.

Should politicians (and notably ministers and MPs) be kept in check against malpractice and illicit transactions? Yes, they should, at all costs. Should we hound politicians and lose sight of what is of real importance once some questionable incident becomes a super issue for the remaining parties in opposition and the ‘independent’ media? No, unless you are a victim of sensationalism.

[Daphne – On the contrary, I think it is crucial to discuss these things and a great shame that they have not been discussed before. What we are seeing now is a situation brought to a head. This sort of thing has been going on for years, with cabinet ministers and shadow ministers. The current finance minister thought it was all right to accept that invitation and that nothing would come of it because it has been happening for so long, and right across the political board, that he probably thought it was normal behaviour. But unfortunately for him, he was the one caught in the spotlight when public opinion shifted and people woke up. The ‘fall guy’ whose experience will serve to teach politicians the valuable lesson that times and attitudes towards this sort of thing have changed. And let’s be realistic here. Labour’s former finance minister Lino Spiteri is a director of Tumas Investments plc. Labour’s current shadow finance minister was and possibly still is the notary for many if not most Tumas Group property contracts, and the Nationalists’ former finance minister John Dalli was a consultant to Tumas during the brief periods when he was not a minister. His private business still operates out of an office in the Portomaso tower, though it is now run by his daughters. Is George Fenech wrong to seek these links and maintain them? Not if you take the view that he should do whatever he can, that is legal, in the interests of his business. But are all these former, present and shadow finance ministers wrong to go along with it? The jury is now out on that one. And it’s been a long time coming.]

The media has the right to report on any possible misconduct and the public has the right to debate until kingdom come. That is an unalienable right under the present administration. However, the persecution of politicians with no black marks on their kondotta is a very valuable tool in the hands of those who want to deviate public thought and opinion towards their hidden agendas. I rest my case.

[Daphne – I hasten to say something I should have said earlier: that the finance minister should not resign. It would be far too dramatic a step and it would achieve nothing. Rather, it would be a loss. He is good at the technical aspects of his portfolio and he is clean, even though he is quite clueless about doing politics and even more clueless about communication.]

… and, thankfully, only one Guido …

In theory, the solution would be to pay ministers such enormous salaries that they wouldn’t even be tempted to look at something that might be construed as influencing them but in practice the taxpayers would never agree.

[Daphne – And you’d be even more likely to get politicians who are in it mainly for the money. Another point: however much people earn, it is never enough. Hence the invitation to Tonio Fenech, from people who already have far more than they could ever possibly use.]

Daphne, what you wrote in the last paragraph of your response (which does not solely apply to finance ministers but to anyone in public office) is the stuff of kindergarten ethics.

That’s what I find so incredible about this whole affair. The Prime Minister and the whole PN Parliamentary Group – so no one will feel left out – should take some time off, bring in a consultant/specialist, and do some catching up on what to do and what not to do in their everyday dealings with business people.

There is no comparison between the Tonio Fenech debacle and the Dubai non-story.

In the first, we have a businessman offering valuable freebies (which were accepted) to a minister who is about to take major decisions in a sector where the said businessman has deep interests.

In the second, we have the politicians inviting the businessmen (not the other way round) to tag along, at their own expense, on a trip where they could make valuable contacts and, hopefully, obtain work and contracts which would be of benefit to themselves, their employees and the Maltese economy.