It used to be a given that the financial services sector was a no-go area, an area that was too important to the national interest to be embroiled in the daily argy-bargy of the political arena.

When the PN were in power, this position was respected, even by the Labour party, perhaps because its spokespersons on the economy and financial services were, by and large, not completely insensitive to the fact that many of their own supporters worked in the sector, not least amongst whom was not-yet-Premier Joseph Muscat, who toiled at the cliff-face of financial services when not trying to keep us out of the EU.

The PN in opposition have maintained the same attitude. Not so the people led by Premier Joseph Muscat, who in their desperation to cling to their positions in the face of the Panamagate scandal have thrown caution to the winds and lashed out recklessly.

The first punch to the solar plexus of what practitioners will tell you is a very sensitive industry was thrown by none other than Premier Muscat himself, or at least on his authority.

Nothing of importance happens within the Labour Party that isn't blessed by him, be it an amendment to its statute to let his side-kick Panama Hats Mizzi join him in running the party as if it were their own private fiefdom, or a series of increasingly weird blogs and news-items about the size of swimming pools and other lies.

When it was, shock, horror, revealed that Dr Anne Fenech, an advocate and practitioner respected on all sides, heads a firm of lawyers that had, back in 2008, given legal advice to a client in connection with setting up a company in Panama, the response from everyone bar Premier Muscat's little minions was "erm, and so? Isn't that what lawyers do?"

The next response was "... and what does this have to do with Konrad Mizzi and KKS setting up their cozy little personal arrangements in Panama?"

Instead of admitting that they had been moronic in bringing up an argument that was so childish that it demonstrates that they have none to make, Premier Joe's minions continued digging, challenging, like the sad little bullies that they are, Anne Fenech to reveal who her clients were.

It is unethical, and specifically illegal in trust and financial services work, for a professional adviser to speak about his or her clients.

It is unethical, and specifically illegal in trust and financial services work, for a professional adviser to speak about his or her clients. Clients come to Malta for professional services precisely because we respect this maxim and most lawyers I know are ethical and respect the law, not least amongst them Anne Fenech and her firm. 

It seems Premier Muscat has different expectations: if it is expedient, then confidentiality and ethics can fly out of the window, he appears to have no compunctions about this.

He also, and perhaps more dangerously, has no compunctions about endangering the financial services sector by giving the world at large the impression that it is OK for the Prime Minister and his government to demand of a practitioner that she disobeys the law and her professional ethics.

Who cares about the dangerous message that is transmitted, as long as Panama Hats and Kasco are protected at all costs?

Not content with this recklessness, Premier Muscat is now on record, admittedly only on Dissett, as having stated that the banking system had been in danger of collapse and that if it wasn't for him, investors would have lost their savings.

Nothing could have been further from the truth and Premier Muscat was given the lie by virtually everyone who works in the sector, even if somewhat kindly by his more faithful appointees, but seriously, is it acceptable that a Prime Minister makes such wild statements? What sort of signal does that give investors?