I hold no brief for Beppe Fenech Adami, and if he’s acted in any manner that is not in accordance with the standards of propriety to which he is entitled to hold everyone else, he would have to be answerable for this.

However, on the evidence thus far, not least of which is the anguished humming and hawing voiced by Saviour Balzan during the minute or so of interview I heard on Super One, this is quite patently a storm in the proverbial, something dreamt up by the spin meisters of Castille and their loyal acolytes, designed to divert attention from the arrival of the monstrous monument to futility and worse in Marsaxlokk Bay.

I was impressed at the alacrity with which Premier Muscat and his minion, Owen Bonnici, saw fit to act, appointing no fewer than three august members-emeriti of the judiciary to investigate the affair, being enjoined to report back by mid-January, no less.

The same sort of urgency was not felt when it came to investigating real issues, such as the Panama Papers, the Cafe’ Premier payout, the Australia Hall munificence, the medical visa garage sale and so many other scandals or potential scandals that one runs out of space.

Premier Muscat’s dead sheep (if you don’t get the reference, I couldn’t be bothered to explain it) seized on MaltaToday’s astounding scoop and turned it into a “scandal that has rocked the PN”. For the rest of us, of course, it is no such thing, because even if there’s anything attributable to Fenech Adami (and for the life of me, I can’t see it) it pales into insignificance when viewed against the backdrop of reeking corruption with which the country is plagued.

Premier Muscat has been in government since March 2013 and this case was apparently referred to the police before that.

So, one asks, are the Three Wise Men supposed to be investigating Fenech Adami, as Premier Muscat’s willing mouthpieces give the impression, or are they going to tell us precisely why this (non-) story was kept up the relevant sleeves, just to be leaked out as needed?