On the New Year's Eve that ushered in 2005, Peter Mandelson, then EU Commissioner for Trade, spent the night on the yacht of a billionaire who was then at the centre of a major EU investigation. Mandelson was a guest at a party thrown by the co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen, on the deck of his 414ft yacht, Octopus.

Mandelson's Caribbean holiday provoked a row over European Commissioners accepting free hospitality, even though when the partying was made public, his close aides insisted he did not discuss business with the world's seventh richest man at what was essentially a drinks party.

Critics of Mandelson alleged that his presence could be a serious conflict of interest since Microsoft was in a protracted legal battle with the European Commission, which had fined it €400 million for abusing its near-monopoly in the software market. Microsoft and the Commission were still in negotiations about how to verify that the company had changed its business practices and as a Commissioner, Mandelson would have a say on any fines imposed on Microsoft, which would have an impact on Allen's fortune.

The row also embroiled José Manuel Barroso, the Commission president, who had to give a written explanation on his free family holiday on the yacht of a Greek shipping billionaire.

In the summer of 2008, Mandelson met Russian minerals tycoon, Oleg Deripaska - known as the 'king of aluminium' - on the latter's 238ft. yacht, Queen K, in Corfu. This was one of a series of social meetings between them during Mandelson's term as EU trade commissioner that saw Mandelson give trade concessions worth up to some €55million a year to the Russian who entertained him on his superyacht. Yet, Mandelson insisted he had exercised his role as Commissioner properly despite his friendship with Deripaska.

By the time the story made it to the press, Mandelson had left the EU Commission on his being appointed a member of the House of Lords and hence the Business Secretary in the UK Cabinet. It was then also divulged that among the guests on Deripaska's yacht there was the Conservative Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, who allegedly solicited a donation from the Russian for the his party.

Encounters such as these between politicians and businessmen provoke the inevitable question: what is the proper relationship between politics and wealth in a democracy? In his book The Assault on Reason - described by the New York Times as "a blistering assessment of the Bush administration" - former US vice-president Al Gore dedicates a chapter to the issue of 'The politics of wealth'.

Gore insists that capitalism and democracy share the same internal logic: free markets and representative democracy are both assumed to work best when individuals make rational decisions.

According to Gore, "the inner structure of liberty is a double helix: one strand - political freedom - spirals upwards in tandem with the other strand - economic freedom. But the two strands, though intertwined, must remain separate in order for the structure to maintain its integrity", adding that "it is the incestuous coupling of wealth and power that poses the deadliest threat to democracy".

Gore's most notorious example of things going wrong in this manner under the Bush-Cheney administration is "the outrageous decision to brazenly grant sole-source no-bid contracts worth $10 billion to Vice President Cheney's former company Halliburton".

Compared with Mandelson's shenanigans and the Halliburton contract, Tonio Fenech's indiscretion in accepting a free ride to Spain on a private jet and two complimentary tickets for a European Cup football match seems ridiculously timid.

Yet people everywhere judge others by their own yardstick and relish thinking that politicians are their equals in their weaknesses. They therefore readily assume that politicians become weak-kneed in front of the lure of money. That is why such stories make 'interesting reading'; why they are considered as juicy stories by newspapers that see their circulation rocket as a result; why they are the juiciest of grist to the tabloid mills. In Malta's petty-minded, claustrophobic environment, it is the sort of episode that starts off incessant tongue wagging.

In the case of the finance minister's jaunt to Spain, there is no indication of any wrong-doing or abuse. Familiarity with businessmen and connivance with them to make a corrupt 'deal' are two different things that exist independently of each other.

Indeed, someone with sinister motives would probably take care not to appear too familiar with a would-be 'collaborator' in public. However, in politics it is wise if one were to remember the anecdote of Caesar's wife: although she was not guilty of an alleged adulterous relationship, Caesar divorced her saying his wife ought not even be under suspicion.

Fenech is convinced he did no wrong - and I do not doubt this - but the incident reflects a reckless and unnecessarily injudicious and imprudent attitude on his part.

Rest assured that the echoes of the wagging tongues will keep haunting Fenech for the rest of his life.

micfal@maltanet.net

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