Archbishop Charles Scicluna has warned that Malta risks the “capture of the nation itself” if networks involving money, influence and access are allowed to become more powerful than the country’s institutions.Speaking at the State of the Nation conference, Scicluna made his first public comments since Yorgen Fenech’s acquittal, although he did not directly reference the trial or its verdict.The Archbishop said Malta had heard “too many accounts” of businesspeople buying influence, politicians and public officials being corrupted, police assisting criminals and journalists becoming involved in wrongdoing rather than exposing it.He warned that this creates “networks of influence” through which money, access, information, favours and protection can circulate between people who should operate independently.“Is everyone in Malta for sale?” Scicluna asked, questioning how many people might be willing to be bought or simply “look the other way”.He warned that if such networks become stronger than Malta’s institutions, the threat goes beyond individual acts of corruption.“The danger is no longer simply corruption. The danger is the capture of the nation itself.”Looking towards Malta’s future, Scicluna questioned what kind of country today’s generation will leave behind in 50 years.“A richer country, perhaps. But will it be a better nation?” he asked. “Will they say we became richer, but poorer in everything that mattered?”•