Oh, mummy he’s answered me again. What shall I say now?

This is a bit like the old argument about Mussolini making trains run on time and Hitler building autobahns.

To know, you need documentation like the Swiss Leaks data, or an at least partial admission like Falzon’s or Zammit’s.

And even now, we don’t KNOW about Falzon and Zammit, because we only have their word for it and not the cast-iron facts. Those cast-iron facts are in the HSBC Geneva data, and nobody in the Maltese media has access to that.

I still agree with Michael Falzon on that specific issue and yes, he does have a bit more political experience than yourself.

What has surfaced now is incredibly wrong but it has nothing to do with what he said nor reduce his political acumen.

Here’s the explanation you want, Carlos.

1. They are not gentlemen – as events have clearly demonstrated.

2. Using a Swiss bank account is not the issue here. Massive tax evasion is. The Swiss bank account is merely the instrument that made it possible to hide the money from the Maltese taxman. You can’t hide your money in a Maltese bank.

3. Not all people with Swiss bank accounts are hiding their money from the taxman, but Michael Falzon and Ninu Zammit, by their own admission, were. They opened those accounts for that express purpose, and they kept them open for tax evasion purposes even as they legislated on tax law and collected taxes from others as government ministers.

4. “More than half of Malta” most definitely does not have a bank account in Switzerland. And of those who do, many are not involved in tax evasion. So there are plenty of people fit to cast stones.

5. We are not living in the Biblical age and this is not a religious issue. The imperatives of democracy, not religious exhortations, apply.

6. They are not like the rest of us or in the same category, even if half of Malta had Swiss bank accounts or were cheating on tax. They were government ministers for a long time while they were doing it. They were legislators. They were responsible for tax collection themselves.

7. They betrayed people’s trust. Your ordinary tax evader does not do that.

Evading taxes, putting their money in Swiss banks or both?

If it is the latter more than half of Malta is guilty starting from the rest of our MPs followed by our professions and businessmen. Let he who is without sin throw the first stone.

Najs one Bekkster!

It is obvious that tax evaders are taking advantage of this situation as they think it will be ‘worth it’ if they get found out.

It is very unfair on the law abiding citizen who pays his/tax dues to the last penny/cent.

Ministers and MPs go on to draw a substantial pension, also financed by taxpayers.