Barton and Bhatia: all sweetness and light?

The this is my england round-up of the QPR 2011-12 season remains under wraps. It'll come. Give it time. Not that you've been waiting with bated breath.

In the meantime, consider this scenario:

You're the co-owner and vice-chairman of a company that operates in a high profile industry. This industry is heavily regulated. In fact, your employees are subject to its rules and regulations and can be suspended from their duties by the organisation which works as the regulatory agency. This fate has befallen one of your highest-paid and most well known employees. This is entirely justified because he has behaved appallingly and violently in a very public setting. Shortly after his act of madness, he used Twitter to engage in slanging matches with other well-known people who had expressed their disapproval of his conduct. As well as getting him suspended, his behaviour has drawn universal condemnation across the media. 

Your company has publicly declared that it is investigating the man's conduct, the implication being that the firm may impose some additional punishment. Many people are wondering whether your firm might want to dismiss him for gross misconduct. Then, with all this still simmering, the man concerned finds himself involved in some sort of altercation outside a nightclub at 5 o'clock in the morning. He is arrested and bailed for his part in the fracas. 

In this context, while the press and the general public continue to speculate about the outcome of your company's investigation, would you exchange pleasantries with the guy via Twitter? 

Probably not, right? Because people might infer that the person concerned is not in your bad books. Because your friendly association with him might in some way prejudice any disciplinary or legal action that's in the offing. Because it just looks unwise and unprofessional. Right?

So why is Amit Bhatia, the justifiably popular Vice-Chairman of QPR, chatting with the club's disgraced captain about Euro 2012? 

Should we infer that Barton is off the hook?