Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1538811
WHEN it emerged Francine Farrugia had swindled over €2 million euros from government-funded and state educa- tion institution MCAST, no one could really believe what they were reading. No one seems to have understood how everyone missed this great deception. To start with, the MCAST administra- tion tried very hard to skirt any form of responsibility. How can anyone cook up an excuse and suggest that it was a normal affair for a manager to get away with cheating the system to the tune of more than €2 million and find some absurd reason in procedure to justify that this was "pos- sible." Someone must be held responsible. Offer a resignation? Or asked to leave? It cannot be that everyone from an ex-minister to a driver of a CEO or a permanent secretary, to an MCAST CFO argue they are justified in holding on to their post. Is there no shame at all? The idea of accountability has been thrown out of the window thanks to Maltese politicians emulating Trumpi- an politics. And that is truth. Defrauding the MCAST coffers by over €2 million also confirms the lack of checks and balances which exist in an institution that should have known better - even after a red flag from the National Audit Office (NAO). Worse still is the accounting firm tasked with ensuring proper accounting procedures did not even flag this prob- lem. PKF are surely left with abundant egg on their face. And then more interestingly, the Mal- tese banks which are traditionally dif- ficult with clients over small transac- tions, never blinked an eyelid over the unusual transactions to Francine's fat accounts. In sharp contrast with the misery, the banks who failed to realise what Fran- cine was doing, put normal law-abiding citizens who dabble with small insignif- icant transactions through hell and are asked all sort of silly questions. And more importantly, Francine was also a Politically Exposed Person (PEP), so this should have been a normal pro- cedure for banking monitoring and due diligence. Farrugia attempted to validate her po- sition by appearing to be a good Catho- lic, a Church goer, a Nationalist party councillor and vocal about the Rule of Law. She also posed with others in the sacred war against corruption. I am also sure she was always there applauding whenever one of her peer politicians regurgitated prose on the corruption that plagued the island. She fooled everyone. Which is why the moral of the story finds its roots in greed and jealousy. Farrugia obviously believed that since other people get away with murder, why not try my luck too? Why not indulge in designer wear, with the usual labels laid out on one's chest for all to see? We might describe Francie as stupid, but really and truly, the system and the people who run it are stupid. With all their pomp and self-importance, the ad- ministrators, the bankers, auditors, ac- countants and professionals all failed in their mission and are to blame. And more importantly it also shows that they are infinitely clumsy with no amour-propre for their work. Francine Farrugia took advantage of a system that allows for such abuse. And the lack of accountability con- tinues to encourage others to do a Francine. *** There is no end to the mad- ness of Trump politics and the fascist policies of Israeli politics. I am quite amused by the statement by Arnold Cassola's party Momentum which is calling on the Maltese govern- ment to intervene and not allow Netan- yahu to raze Gaza to the ground. I wonder what Cassola's Momentum expect from Robert Abela. Apart from our very meek approach to internation- al politics, there is little or nothing that anyone can do about Netanyahu. Abela has been very careful what to say about Israel. We would have like him to be our conscience, but I do not think he gets it on this level. While it is rather noble for a fledg- ling political party to take a stand on international politics, I really think we should start to come to terms with our insignificance as a miniscule island state. More so when Europe itself and the European Union has been a big let- down. European Parliament President Rob- erta Metsola for one, together with the o t h e r M E P s , has only been in- terested in self-grat- ification and ensuring getting the best from the EU gravy train. If that was not the case, she would be upholding European values and screaming wolf at the famine that has come about because of the genocide of 2 million people. Instead, she has spent the last year dishing out timid rebukes to the Israelis for being naughty. The truth is that in the case of Gaza, we can only pray that something shocks the Israeli political system, leading to the downfall of Netanyahu. And with that, the possibility of having someone with some humanity. As things stand, the United States is led by a narcissist and madman, and Israel by a fascist who believe the end justifies the means. The has led to the starving of two mil- lion depraved and encaged Palestinians. Saviour Balzan Founder and co-owner of Media Today, publisher of MaltaToday, he is a TV host and pollster 7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 AUGUST 2025 OPINION What does Francine Farrugia tell us, about us? Doing a Francine: Francine is not stupid, we and our system are The idea of accountability has been thrown out of the window thanks to Maltese politicians emulating Trumpian politics. And that is truth.