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6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 FEBRUARY 2026 Rewarding illegality is an affront to fairness and basic decency Editorial GOVERNMENT'S decision to offer compensa- tion money to those who suffered losses because of Storm Harry is praiseworthy. What is not laud- able, however, is the blanket manner by which such compensation was going to be dished out. The criteria to be eligible for compensation are unclear, which makes the exercise seem like a pre-election giveaway to placate pockets of peo- ple at taxpayer's expense. Former prime minister Alfred Sant raised a pertinent point when he questioned whether those who failed to take out an insurance policy on their property should be treated at par with those who did bother to safeguard their invest- ment. Given the extraordinary circumstances, the government should step in where insurances fail to step up. It should also consider propping up individuals and businesses, who were refused insurance for reasons that have nothing to do with illegality. However, what is very clear in the mind of right-thinking ordinary individuals is that tax- payer money should in no way, shape and form be used to compensate individuals and business- es for storm damages caused to illegal structures. It is unfair to the many others who bothered to play by the rules all their life. Treating everyone equally, irrespective of their circumstances is not fairness but a warped ver- sion of justice that makes a mockery of the rule of law. It is no wonder that Prime Minister Rob- ert Abela's declaration that everyone would be eligible to claim storm compensation, including those who had illegal structures washed away, was met with disbelief and anger. The backlash was palpable and justified. The Chamber of Commerce captured the es- sence of this anger when it warned that extend- ing public funding to businesses in breach of planning or building regulations undermines principles of good governance and the rule of law. Public funding, it argued, should support compliance rather than reward violations. The chamber was right in its concerns. Busi- nesses that operate legally, pay taxes, and ad- here to planning and safety standards should be recognised and protected. But treating compli- ant and non-compliant businesses on the same basis because of some warped interpretation of fairness, creates an uneven playing field and risks encouraging further disregard for planning and environmental regulations. The backlash does seem to have jigged things in government. The prime minister subsequently re-set the parameters for compensation, saying that those with illegal structures will have one year to regularise their situation before being eligible for compensation. Essentially, what the latest iteration of the scheme means is that gov- ernment will be subsidising part or all the fees incurred by those who seek regularisation. Once again, this is not fairness but a warped version of it. Unfortunately, the concept of fairness seems to fly over the Labour government's head. The storm compensation 'storm' is but one of a series of decisions over the past years that undermine honest, ordinary citizens. We recall Robert Abela's misguided statement during the COVID pandemic when, in the midst of that tumultuous period, he said he would consider an amnesty for those who were fined for breaching public safety rules. We still have a planning amnesty waiting in parliament that makes no distinction between small-time plan- ning digressions, where it may make social sense to regularise against a fee, and large commercial establishments that have flaunted the rules with abject impunity for years. We still have construc- tion magnates, who have repeatedly broken plan- ning laws, that continue to benefit from govern- ment contracts. These instances anger ordinary right-thinking individuals, who believe in honesty, fairness and the rule of law—values that are to be cherished and promoted, not least by the state. We expect politicians to stand up for what is fair, what is right. Politicians should remove the wool from in front of their eyes and stop pan- dering to entitled constituents, who believe they have a God-given right to break the law and ex- pect to be compensated nonetheless like all the rest. We expect to hear what the Nationalist Party leader Alex Borg has to say about this and hope he has the decency to stand up for honest taxpayers. Silence is not an option. We appreciate the principled stands taken by Momentum and ADPD that those who built ille- gally should not be compensated. Rewarding illegality is not only unfair but cor- rupts society's moral fibre. It blurs the distinction between right and wrong as defined by society's rules and norms and sends the wrong message to our children and our youth. Malta deserves bet- ter from those who aspire to lead it. And this is not idealism but basic decency. Quote of the Week "The strongest comment made was by some who claimed that the government, with its array of valid subsidies, should not give support to firms which broke the law by illegally setting up commercial facilities and who will now come to request compensation for their loss. Such arguments make sense and deserve being listened to." – Former prime minister Alfred Sant on government's compensation scheme for those who suffered damages from Storm Harry and how in its initial iteration was open even to those who had illegally-built structures. MaltaToday 10 years ago Pilatus lawyers said damages for US lawsuit against Malta journalists would reach $40 million 7 February 2016 THE private bank Pilatus were planning to sue Maltese media houses as well as the late jour nalist Daphne Caruana Galizia for defa- mation in an American court for damages of up to $40 million. The Lawrence Law Group of Washington DC had written a 13-page letter on 16 Octo- ber 2017 to media houses on behalf of Pilatus Bank to sue them in the US courts, saying: "The bank estimates that its damag es result- ing from the false and defamatory statements identi fied could exceed $40 million. Be ad- vised that the Bank and Mr Sadr have already com menced litigation in the US against Maltese defendant(s) seeking damages and injunc tive relief." The letter was cited in an ad journment speech by Nation alist MP Jason Azzopardi on Monday evening. Sadr and Pilatus sued Daphne Caruana Gal- izia on 8 May 2017 in the Maricopa Coun- ty supe rior court, in the state of Ari zona, where internet domain registrar GoDaddy. com's head quarters are located. The lawsuit, which had an unspecified claim for damages, was filed at the time Caruana Galizia had alleged that the bank had processed a $1 mil lion transfer from a Dubai com pany to the wife of the Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, at the behest of the daughter of Azerbaijani President Il- ham Aliyev. [...]