Many readers must surely remember one of the greatest criminal investigations of all time involving political parties, politicians and business people – Mani Pulite or Tangentopoli – in the 1990s in nearby Italy.

Italian magistrates, led by Antonio di Pietro, investigated the system of very big donations given to political parties to influence important decisions that would benefit their companies etc. As a result of those investigations, politicians and business people ended in prison.

Some politicians and business leaders even committed suicide. Bettino Craxi, the socialist party leader, escaped from Italy and exiled himself in Tunisia not to end up in prison. A number of political parties disappeared from the political scene, such as the Christian Democratic Party, the Socialist Party, the Liberal Party and others.

What has been exposed here in Malta these last few weeks is almost a carbon copy of what had been happening in Italy.

The only difference is that while in Italy the system and the politicians involved were exposed by the investigating magistrates, the system in Malta has been revealed by one of the companies directly involved.

Let’s see what happens now, if anything at all. I am not holding my breath.