There would seem to be no end to the number of fraud cases coming up, exposing, in most cases, lack of adequate control and organisation. The latest case is over the subsidy given to buyers of solar panels for installation in their homes. For the second time this year, the Resources Authority has had to suspend the scheme following claims of irregularities.

According to newspaper reports, the police have been put on the case following reports of irregularities received by the Resources Authority from suppliers. Apparently, some retailers are inflating the quoted price of cheaper solar panels to €6,000 so that buyers can make themselves entitled to the full €3,000 grant. This may at first appear to be an ingenious way of defrauding the system, but on second thoughts those in charge with the running of the scheme should have been more alert to the possibility of such abusive practices and checked the wrongdoers there and then. This would have avoided the suspension of the scheme.

Bona fide buyers have now to suffer the consequences of the transgressors' abuse until the police conclude the investigations. At least in this case, the authority acted immediately. Only last month, a number of employees of Transport Malta's licensing and testing office were suspended pending police investigations into alleged irregularities. This is not the first time that abuses have been found in the granting of licences, a matter that ought to put the office to great shame. Common sense would indicate that the necessary effective reforms should have been made at the office when this happened the first time to avoid repetition of abuses. The fact that there has been a second round of abuses indicates that, as one Labour MP, Joe Mizzi, said, lessons have not been learnt.

An audit investigation has apparently pinpointed a number of individuals employed, or formerly employed, by Transport Malta whose actions "in connection with the matters investigated", have not been satisfactorily explained. The report of the investigation also details how certain procedures were bypassed by these individuals.

The report has now been passed on to the police, and the government has not deemed it prudent to publish it until it is authorised to do so by the police. Besides the suspension of a number of employees, Transport Malta has been told to step up its efforts to turn manual processes into computer-driven systems. A suggestion that makes a lot of sense, and which, with hindsight, should have already been adopted a long time ago, not just at the licensing office but at all cash-receiving points, is the rotation of staff at cash offices.

The same recommendation was made by many at the time of the fraud case at the VAT department. Has the recommendation been implemented? Mentioning the VAT fraud case, what progress has been made, if any, in the plans, announced in the budget for this year, to merge three most important tax collection sources - Inland Revenue, VAT Department, and Customs and Excise? This idea too makes a great deal of sense and should, when fully implemented, help to streamline the raising of revenue from these sources and, at the same time, contribute to the closing of loopholes in the procedures involved in collection.

For such a small community as Malta's, far too many cases of fraud are being reported. A greater effort ought to be made by the administration to tighten up the organisation to ensure greater efficiency and to check possibilities of fraud and irregularities.