When it comes to laws and the way they are applied, I often find myself struggling to understand the logic behind certain decisions. Putting aside the fact that it would seem that some of our laws are in desperate need of revision, especially when it comes to sexual abuse, and that our judges’ and magistrates’ rulings are very much subjective and have to be made within the parameters of the laws which already exist, I still grapple with the outcomes of many cases which make it to the media.

I struggle even more to understand how we always seem ready to punish the weak while seemingly giving the big fish in our pond carte blanche to get away with murder.

Almost a year ago, I remember reading about a case where a homeless man was dragged to court for stealing a can of tuna because he was hungry and desperate while, at the time, Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi weren’t even being interrogated about the many allegations that were being levelled against them.

Last week, two young women were handed effective jail sentences and torn away from their wailing young children after admitting to using forged travel documents. It transpired that both mothers were teachers who had fled their homeland after the failed Turkish coup d’état of 2016 and sought refuge in Greece.

I again find it very hard to understand how such a sentence is meted out so very easily while, on the same day, a man who has tried to pimp out his wife for food and then gone to the same grocery shop with an unlicensed weapon and robbed the owner is merely asked to pay a fine of €700 for carrying an unlicensed firearm and refund the money he stole.

Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done

Situations like this clearly delineate the importance of our laws beings reformed to accurately reflect the gravity of a situation in a way that is proportionate.

Of course, in the background of all this, we have the piling evidence against Yorgen Fenech being presented, where it would seem he had a finger in almost every unsavoury pie in the country. And yet again, nothing is being done about any of the names which keep coming up as the days of this case have turned into years.

How can our system be taken seriously by others or indeed ourselves when we are in the kind of situation where we have powerful people out on bail for months at a time during money laundering cases (when we have just been greylisted by the FATF, no less) and others being dragged to jail kicking and screaming for allegedly leaving their country for humanitarian purposes?

It’s little wonder that the UK placed Malta on the high-risk list for money laundering and terrorist financing when you start taking the time to join all the dots.

Our two weights, two measures system, based on who you are rather than what you’ve done, has been an unsightly blot on our community for some time, and it has to end. While many still struggle to see the repercussions this way of doing things has, the writing has most definitely been on the wall for some time now.

Had we not made our country’s powerful so untouchable, a journalist might still be alive today. Had we not just shut up and taken money, we might still be a country that demands respect rather than one that has the rest of the European community scratching their heads. Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done.