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14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 MAY 2021 NEWS As election looms, will Abela raise or lower the bar? Robert Abela raised hopes of a general clean-up of the mess inherited from his disgraced predecessor. His efforts paid off in ensuring Malta is not grey-listed by Moneyval. But his yardstick in addressing blatant abuse – ranging from crass nepotism to million-euro contracts – suggests he is still fire-fighting and with elections looming on the horizon, he may be increasingly tempted to lower the bar JAMES DEBONO IN a damning 177-page report, the NAO this week said that St Vincent de Paul, a government institution for the elderly, the Ministry for Family and Social Solidarity and the Department of Contracts, "acted in breach of legislative provisions" when they sanctioned a negotiated procedure for the management of the new hospitality blocks on the basis of urgency, break- ing public procurement regula- tions in the deal. The NAO was "incredulous" at the role played by parliamentary secretaries politically responsible for the project, saying "their failure to enquire as to the regularity of this procurement is in clear breach of their duty arising from the political post held." The contract was awarded to a consortium owned by the DB Group and James Caterers. Only a year ago the same office had cast doubts on the "regu- larity" of the tender for the dis- posal of the ITS site to the DB Group issued by Projects Mal- ta. But the report was ignored, and that contract was never re- scinded. Instead the Planning Authority will soon be asked to approve the mega-project set on public land. Yet so far there have been no resignations and no assump- tion of political responsibility on the part of those involved. Social Solidarity Minister Mi- chael Falzon, who back then, was the minister responsible for the sector, shrugged re- sponsibility. "I can only speak about myself, there was no political interference, at least from my end. The sector also no longer falls under my re- mit," Falzon said. Yet no attempt has been made so far to establish the trail of political responsibilities where the buck stopped. In the ab- sence of the assumption of po- litical responsibility by anyone, the government inevitably be- comes collectively responsible for the abuse. Erase the sin without punish- ing the sinner This follows a pattern where wrongdoing is partly addressed without any attempt to estab- lish any political responsibility, in a way through which the sin is erased but the sinners are not punished. For example a €5,000-a-month sports contract awarded by the Education Ministry to football- er Daniel Bogdanovic has been terminated but the minister responsible has not even been reprimanded. Subsequently, Adreana Zam- mit – the daughter of Trans- port Minister Ian Borg's senior advisor – quit her role as a law- yer with Transport Malta in the wake of criticism that she was awarded lucrative contracts even before she graduated as a lawyer. Once again no attempt was made to ascertain political responsibility. Such an attitude suggests that action is only taken when the culprits are caught red-handed and only when the contracts involve individuals and have no bearing on the relation- ship between government and big business groups. Because so far, in cases involving mul- ti-million contracts like that involving St Vincent de Paul or the City Center project belong- ing to DB, rescinding the deals seems out of the question. So far the only sitting MP to have faced a reprimand by Rob- ert Abela was Konrad Mizzi. His expulsion from the parlia- mentary group signalled a clear departure from the Muscat years. It also sent a mes- sage to law enforcement that nobody enjoyed impunity. But even here, while his lucra- tive MTA contract s i n g l e - h a n d e d l y ordered by Jo- seph Muscat at the end of 2019 was rescind- ed, it was only thanks to an i n v e s t i g a t i o n by the Standards Commission- er that we learned that Muscat was indeed responsible for it. Yet even here, not a single rep- rimand was forthcoming. The very basic In the face of the constant spillover of scandals from the Muscat era, we are constantly reminded that the institutions are working, which is the least one expects of a functioning democracy. The fact that Ab- ela keeps boasting that the in- stitutions are working simply confirms how bad the situa- tion was under his predeces- sor when the institutions were clearly not working. And while the arraignment on bribery allegations of Keith Schembri affirms the principle that nobody is above the law, there seems to be a reluctance to uncover the extent of the corruption web, which envel- oped the country and its institutions, also thanks to the poor track record in addressing structural problems by PN-led administrations. In fact under pressure by Moneyval, the Abela gov- ernment has gone further than previ- ous govern- ments, including those led by the PN, in addressing institu- tional shortcomings. In this way Abela has avoided Malta being grey-listed by Money- val. The risk is that this certi- fication will now will be used to whitewash an edifice whose foundations are rotten. The political economy of cor- ruption This is because the same gov- ernment, which takes credit for ensuring that the institu- tions are working, shuns any calls to investigate energy con- tracts, land deals and the op- erations of major player like Former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri taken to court in a police car to be charged with corruption: under pressure by Moneyval, the Abela government has gone further than previous governments, including those led by the PN, in addressing institutional shortcomings. In this way Abela has avoided Malta being grey-listed by Moneyval. The risk is that this certification will now will be used to whitewash an edifice whose foundations are rotten