Something unprecedented will happen on Tuesday.

A former prime minister and his former lieutenants, together with several others, will go to court to answer to accusations of bribery, trading in influence and money laundering in connection with the hospitals' scandal.

If you are not familiar with the details of the story, we don’t blame you – these complex structures are designed to cover the tracks.

Justice in Malta is now on trial.

The palpable tension and the wild accusations that have accompanied the criminal charges are understandable, given Joseph Muscat’s god-like status among Labour supporters. 

With his impeccable communication skills, it is also understandable that Muscat has come out fighting and claiming the accusations are nothing more than a frame-up.

What is unacceptable is the way his arraignment, and the hospitals scandal in general, is being manipulated by Robert Abela and his party for partisan reasons.

Since a magisterial inquiry into the scandal was concluded, Abela has never missed an opportunity to imply its conclusion was deliberately timed to influence the European and local elections.

At no point has he bothered to comment about the elephant in the room – that hundreds of millions of euros in taxes have been squandered on a corrupt hospitals' deal that has made many people rich.

At no point did the prime minister explain how his government intends to recoup some of the tens of millions stolen from us all.

At no point did he explain why his government simply put a lid on the hospitals scandal, hoping the truth would never emerge.

Not once has he distanced himself from those implicated in a scheme designed to divert public money into private pockets.

In a normal democracy, any government facing the extent of such serious accusations would step down and call an election.

Supporters have every right to protest, but they have been fed a toxic diet of conspiracy theories and outrageous statements

We are not saying that all those charged in connection with the case are guilty – some (or many) will be acquitted – but you have to be facetious to point your guns at the magistrate and the imaginary ‘establishment’ instead of taking a good introspective look.

And at what cost?

The hostile reaction to the magistrate conducting the inquiry puts Malta again in the spotlight of international institutions and global investors interested in the government’s commitment to rule of law.

As if it was not enough that our country was dragged through the mud because of the Panama Papers, the assassination of a journalist and the FATF greylisting, we are now once again facing international notoriety.

Muscat’s supporters, including (incredulously) his own lawyer, have called for a show of solidarity outside the court on Tuesday, raising concerns about the potential for civil unrest.

Supporters have every right to protest, but they have been fed a toxic diet of conspiracy theories and outrageous statements. The magistrate is biased. The ‘establishment’ is out to get us. You can’t trust the courts. They’re setting a ‘trap’.

For weeks, Abela has been inflaming tensions with this sort of rhetoric. It is, therefore, pointless to express concern about potential trouble when the horse has bolted.

We simply cannot continue going down the path of telling the electorate that their vote will eradicate corrupt practices.

It’s what Muscat did following the Panama Papers scandal, when he rehabilitated Konrad Mizzi based on his electoral success.

That ended badly. This will too. We keep hoping for a prime minister to act like a statesman rather than a criminal lawyer for the Labour Party.

He had a golden opportunity to open a new chapter in Malta’s recent troubled political history, by cutting all links with the previous corrupt administration. Instead, he has stoked a fire among the hardcore, and Malta risks going up in flames again.