Over the last few years, there have been endless stories of how a culture of impunity has encouraged certain people in high places, in both politics and business, to commit wrongdoing in the certainty that the arm of the law would never reach them. 

Amid scandal after scandal, both main political parties have tried to occupy the moral high ground, promising that they would not tolerate abuse motivated by monetary gain.

Unfortunately, those who react cynically to the holier-than-thou posturing of our politicians have just been proven right… yet again.

In theory, in a democratic system people elect their political representatives because they trust that they will do what is right for them and for the country. We expect our leaders to be people of integrity, who mean what they say and act in our best interests.

The reality is often quite different.  The Labour Party and the National Party have owned radio and television stations for decades. They have commercial companies running these stations. In a free market, businesses remain in existence as long as they earn their way without help from taxpayers, the government or anonymous donors.

It would appear, however, that ONE and Media.Link, the media arms of the PL and PN respectively, consider themselves to be the sacred cows of the local business sector. Between them, these two companies owe more than €5 million in unpaid VAT. To this, one must add a still unquantified amount owed for employees’ income tax deducted at source and social security contributions.

It is no secret that both political parties and their commercial communications companies are also indebted to the banks, which are often reluctant to take legal action against defaulting political parties.

In the wake of Malta’s greylisting over lack of enforcement for financial crimes, Prime Minister Robert Abela brazenly called on the public to help the authorities clamp down on tax dodgers. He said the authorities needed help to weed out abusers. On his part, Opposition leader Bernard Grech says only a Nationalist government would have the credibility necessary to get Malta off the grey list.

It is no wonder that international organisations complain that the culture of impunity permeates various sectors of Maltese society and that our politicians’ credibility on law enforcement is weak at best.

If ordinary people are expected to pay their taxes when due, how can the leaders of Malta’s largest political parties expect to be treated differently? We cannot have one law enforcement process for ordinary people and another much lighter method for the high priests of politics.

Malta’s political parties have an overbearing presence in the media but their public service role has to be seriously questioned. Both stations preach to the converted. They only reinforce the tribal polarisation necessary to preserve the blind loyalty of the hardcore voters of the Labour and Nationalist parties.

It is time that both parties consider disbanding their media companies and deliver their message more in line with modern political communication strategies.

The very thought of asking the public to bail out the technically bankrupt political media companies should send shivers down the spine of those who expect their political leaders to act with integrity.

Malta is already suffering immensely because of the corrupt public governance of the last few years. If our political leaders want to win back the respect of both local and international observers, they need to stop treating their own parties and commercial companies as untouchable in terms of tax law.

The tax authorities and banks should have no reverential respect for political parties that default on their repayment agreements.