They were just following orders, Malta’s prime minister said.

It is a defence that failed to pass muster 85 years ago, when it was proffered in far more serious circumstance. But Robert Abela, a lawyer by profession, is well aware that the validity of a defence does not hinge on the gravity of the crime.

All those involved in the sordid deal to give Rosianne Cutajar a fake job paid for by Malta’s taxpayers were well aware of what they were doing. They were not coerced into doing so.

Even when the messy deal began to unravel and they found themselves in an NAO-shaped pickle, they did not try to argue that they were forced into breaking the law.

Instead, Institute of Tourism Studies boss Pierre Fenech, Konrad Mizzi’s chief of staff Kevin Borg, and Cutajar herself prevaricated.

Fenech told auditors he would provide them with evidence of the work Cutajar did. It did not materialise. Borg was less than forthcoming in his answers.

Cutajar said it was standard practice for people like her to be given job descriptions requiring extensive financial and legal know-how.

So to hear Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo and his boss, the prime minister, both argue that there is nothing to worry about because the real culprit, Konrad Mizzi, has already been dealt with borders on the inane.

Not only because that is not quite what the National Audit Office concluded – Borg insisted that hiring Cutajar as a consultant was Fenech’s idea all along – but also because Fenech was hardly a lowly messenger.

Fenech is the chief executive of two separate state entities and is paid handsomely to run the ITS and Mediterranean Conference Centre.

Are we to understand that a man deemed so valuable that he is allowed to be a dual CEO is also the type of person incapable of making his own decisions or standing up to a minister when asked to commit a crime? 

Abela’s Nuremberg defence of Cutajar and the ITS fraud also runs contrary to what the police believes, judging by the way in which it dealt with a similar situation just a few years ago.

When it emerged that Melvin Theuma was given a fake job much like Cutajar’s, the police sprung into action.

Not only did they press charges against Theuma himself. They also filed criminal charges against all those involved in making that happen – from Keith Schembri to the others who “followed his orders”, to use Robert Abela’s description.

By that same yardstick, one would expect the police to now be drafting similar criminal charges against Cutajar, Fenech, Borg and, of course, Mizzi.

In the grand scheme of state-sponsored corruption that we have become so accustomed to, a €20,000 fraud might strike some as small fry.

But the law is the law, and with our political class seemingly so hell-bent on defending its own, the job of ensuring that it is respected falls on Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa and his corps.

With each scandal that emerges and is swiftly buried, it becomes ever more clear that the only hope we have of ensuring we are treated with respect is if those who abuse of our tax euros and cents are made to pay a heavy price for doing so.

This culture of impunity, where those in positions of power seem immune from consequences, cannot be allowed to fester any longer. This deep-seated malaise within our political system, one that breeds corruption and shields the powerful from scrutiny has to stop.

The Maltese people deserve better.