After years of speculation, the fallout from an inquiry into the Muscat government's role in the hospitals deal has finally started to unravel.

Will Joseph Muscat end up arrested and taken to court?

We do not know yet, but the controversial and hotly debated inquiry into the Vitals deal is done and has been sent to the Attorney General.

And as the country waits to see whether Muscat or anyone else will be criminally charged over the deal, the former prime minister has made it clear that he will fight it to the bitter end.

Muscat, who has spent the past year battling the inquiry, called a press conference on Tuesday afternoon to tell reporters this was a personal “vendetta” and accused the magistrate leading it, Gabriella Vella, of waging war against himself and the Labour Party.

These are six key takeaways from his statement and his answers to reporters' questions.

1. Muscat is convinced he will be criminally charged

Although he has not seen any part of the inquiry and insists he does not know what it contains, he is convinced it is only a matter of time before he is arraigned.

Seeing some of his harshest critics celebrate the inquiry conclusion on social media has led him to suspect that they somehow know he will be charged, he said.

Muscat's reasoning is that if the inquiry acquitted him - as was the case with the Egrant inquiry - they would not be celebrating it.

Muscat smiles as he walks to court on Tuesday morning. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

"I'm assuming I'm going to be charged with something," Muscat said. "Bring it on. I am bracing myself for it and I will fight it to win it."

"I am serene because I know what I did and didn't do, and I have no doubt time will prove me right and I have no problem with being fairly scrutinised. If there is justice in this country, I will be acquitted."

He said that he and his family are preparing to be dragged through another few years of hell until they are proven right. 

2. Police have not come for him - yet

Muscat said he has heard nothing from the police yet. 

He was also asked whether he thinks he will go to prison. He said he did not know, but that he would be free "if justice exists". 

Muscat also squeezed in a line that would please Labourites: Labour's forefathers were prepared to go to hell, not just prison, for what they believed in, he said. 

He was clearly drawing a comparison with the Catholic Church's battle against the party in the 1960s, when people were told that they would literally go to hell if they supported Labour or voted for it.

Muscat invited reporters to a press conference at the Excelsior Hotel. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Even if Muscat is to be criminally charged, we are not expecting the police to hunt him down and drag him to the courthouse in handcuffs, Hollywood-style.

That is not necessary. Rather, if he is charged it will likely be through a court summons. But his charges would be criminal nonetheless.

3. Muscat sees this as another Egrant

Muscat could not have made it clearer that he wants people to see this case as a repetition of the Egrant saga.

In that case, Muscat and his wife were linked to a secret Panama company named in the Panama Papers. A magisterial inquiry found no evidence to justify that and concluded some witnesses lied and some signatures presented were forged.  

Muscat drew comparisons between this case and that one in the very first sentence of his press conference, saying the inquiry was also coincidentally concluded on the seventh anniversary of the Egrant inquiry.

He also made sure people understood this battle would not simply cause hardship to him as a politician, but also to his wife and children. The injustice was not only being levelled at him, but also at his family, he said. 

He said that just like with Egrant, he and his family would be innocently dragged for a few years through a battle that they must fight to clear their name, only to be proven right and liberated at the very end.

"Bring it on," he told reporters after the hearing. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Only this time, he said, he would not let it go until he makes sure whoever spread the lie is held responsible.

"Even though I was proven right about Egrant, there were no consequences to the people who spread the lie," he said.

"It will be different this time. I will keep fighting - even as an old man with a walking stick if need be - so that the people behind this vendetta answer to their actions."

4. 'Institutions work... against Labourites'

Despite Labour having held onto historic, unprecedented power and popularity for 11 years, Muscat continues to push the line that he and the Labour Party are the underdogs.

Certain institutions are still hijacked by "the PN establishment", he said repeatedly, and they do work... they work against Labourites.

"I don't expect to be treated as if I were above the law, but I also don't expect to be crushed by the law, simply because some Nationalists were not happy that I brought them several election losses," he said.

"It's all conjecture," he told reporters as he walked into court. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

He also reiterated the timing of the inquiry conclusion was nasty and intended to harm him and the Labour Party.

Muscat addressed the press conference with his lawyer, Charlon Gouder. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

"It so happened that my house was raided just weeks before the general election [in 2022] and now this inquiry was concluded weeks before the EU parliament elections," he noted. 

"There's no doubt about the political timing."

5. He now sings from the Anġlu Farrugia hymnsheet 

Back in 2012, when he was still Opposition leader, Muscat had sacked his deputy leader (and now-Speaker) Anġlu Farrugia after he called a magistrate partisan. Now it is Muscat who is attacking the judiciary.

Asked by Times of Malta why it is fine now but was unacceptable then, Muscat recanted on his 2012 decision.

“I probably moved too fast,” Muscat said. “I now understand where Anġlu was coming from.”

Muscat said he has heard nothing from the police yet. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

6. We might hear again from him in the coming days

Just before he walked out of the room, Muscat thanked journalists for covering the press conference and hinted there might be more developments soon. 

"I thank you very much. In the coming days, if need be, I will be contacting you again," he said.