The silly season is back with its tales. This last week the weather has been very silly, especially for those who have taken some days off work to enjoy the sea. As I have done in past years, this week’s contribution, which coincides with the Santa Marija week, will focus on a few issues rather than just one.

Conflict of interest

One of this week’s news items has been that more than half the budget allocated in tenders to equipment for a new university solar laboratory has gone to one company, which is the subsidiary of a group whose chairman is the lab’s lead scientist. It was also reported that this person insisted there was no conflict of interest because he had not made any financial gain from the procurement process.

I do not believe that we fully appreciate the issue of conflict of interest in this country. It is not a problem of today but has been with us for as long as I have been involved with public and private sector organisations at a senior level.

We Maltese have a high regard for law and order

To claim that there is no conflict of interest because one has not made a financial gain is fallacious.

A conflict of interest is a set of circumstances that creates a risk that judgement or actions regarding one’s duties will be unduly influenced by a secondary interest. Secondary interest includes not only financial gain but also such motives as the desire for professional advancement and the wish to do favours for family and friends.

Moreover, declaring a conflict of interest is an aspect of self-regulation. The person involved has to declare it and not a third party. It is an ethical issue, and as such, unless we address it appropriately, we run the risk of weakening the economic and social fabric of our society.

Liberal but not libertinage

This brings me to the second point, which is also starting to represent a threat to the economic and social fabric of our country. Over the years our society has gone through a process of democratisation and we have introduced a number of laws that may be described as socially liberal.

There is nothing wrong with that as these laws appear to be an expression of a willingness of a majority in this country to move in this direction. However, we need to start making a distinction between freedom, liberalism and libertinage.

I fear that an element of libertinage is slowly but surely creeping into this country. Some persons have interpreted this move towards more liberal laws as a licence to show utter disregard for authority. This was certainly not the intention of the legislator or of the executive government.

Yet, if this attitude takes root, law and order would start to crumble. And this is something we cannot risk having. One of the reasons why we manage to attract such a large amount of foreign investment is precisely because we Maltese have a high regard for law and order. We cannot allow the few to project an image of our country which is so far away from the truth.

Protecting Malta’s reputation

Once on the subject of foreign investment, it is worth commenting about the recent case of a Maltese fiduciary company and a gaming company which allegedly had the involvement of the Italian ’Ndrangheta. Then earlier this week we had the news of stock traders in Malta being involved in an international securities fraud scheme.

Malta’s success has been very much based on the very positive reputation we have managed to build over the years, thanks to the excellent regulatory regime and the professionalism of operators in this sector. We should learn from these events, but we should be wary of turning them into fodder for political badgering.

If laws have been broken, then it is appropriate that steps be taken against the perpetrators. It is also appropriate that Maltese organisations provide all the necessary information to the investigators. However, political badgering on such issues is not a way of protecting Malta’s reputation in the area of international investment.

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