This has not been a good week for Justice Minister Jonathan Attard, who is responsible for ensuring the law courts and attorney general’s office function efficiently and effectively.

Both those entities took centre stage last week as the biggest criminal cases in Malta’s political history began.

They both emerged bruised and battered. Worse: instead of shielding them from attacks, Attard was among those kicking them when they were down.

We are just one hearing into the two cases against Joseph Muscat and others, and there is already significant concern that the prosecution has been thrown to the wolves.

That was viscerally, visibly evident during Tuesday and Wednesday’s court hearings. On one side stood the defendants, represented by the cream of Malta’s legal profession. There were 27 defence lawyers in that courtroom. On the other side stood four lawyers from the attorney general’s office and three police officers. Two of those lawyers graduated a few years ago. Another is swamped with the case against Yorgen Fenech. The lead prosecutor is in his early 30s.

It would already be challenging for such a relatively inexperienced prosecutorial team to face one of Malta’s top criminal lawyers, let alone 27 at one go.

They find themselves in such a situation because of the attorney general’s decision to try defendants collectively, rather than individually. Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg is now nowhere to be seen, even as her boss, the Justice Minister, publicly attacks her team. 

It would be helpful to know what the prosecutor’s boss makes of the minister’s attack. Unfortunately, Victoria Buttigieg is silent. Why is she not speaking out in defence of her prosecutors?

One day after Muscat was in court, Attard went on Labour-owned One Radio and criticised the prosecutor leading the case against Muscat. A request the prosecutor made to the court was “disproportionate”, the minister said, before doubling down: If the prosecutor wanted to “gag” Muscat, then he should also investigate leaks from the other side, Attard argued.

Setting aside the fact that it is the police, not a prosecutor, who can investigate those alleged leaks, the gravity of Attard’s criticism should not be understated.

What will his words achieve, other than intimidating a prosecutor who falls within the minister’s political responsibility? Why does the minister feel he needs to publicly defend Muscat? 

Attard has not told us what he makes of what appears to be the biggest state-sponsored theft in Maltese history, or how he intends to ensure more effective legal oversight of such public concessions.

He has, however, said it is OK for his boss to single out a magistrate for criticism, expressed outrage at the inquiry’s €11 million cost, and implied the forensic experts who investigated the scandal were overpaid.

It would be helpful to know what the prosecutor’s boss makes of the minister’s attack. Unfortunately, Victoria Buttigieg is silent. Why is she not speaking out in defence of her prosecutors?

Just as importantly, why was the AG nowhere to be seen last week, as her office kicked off two of the most important cases in its history?

The AG’s office has been gradually depleted of its most senior prosecutors. The deputy AG role has been vacant for months.

That is hardly Buttigieg’s fault. What she could do, however, is show the leadership her role demands. That reasoning also applies to Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà, who was also conspicuous by his absence.

Their involvement might not make one iota of difference in the grand scheme of things, but it would at least inspire more public confidence in their respective offices.

In the longer term, it is clear that the public prosecutors are desperately underpowered and in need of help.

The government seems to be finally waking up to this: this year the attorney general’s annual budget has risen by 40 per cent to €5 million, after years of minimal increases.

That is encouraging. But having witnessed the legal circus that was court last week, the obvious question arises: is it too little, too late?