Chris Fearne on Wednesday told journalists he will defend his name in court and not on the streets, ahead of a sitting in which he was set to be charged in connection to the hospitals scandal.
The former health minister and deputy prime minister will face charges of fraud, misappropriation and fraudulent gain.
He resigned from his government positions on May 10, days after prosecutors filed charges against him. He had said that despite facing "injustice" he had a duty to "put the people first". He also withdrew his nomination as Malta's nominee to the next EU Commission.
Together with Central Bank governor and former minister Edward Scicluna, he leads a list of 14 officials who on Wednesday are being charged in court with 'lesser crimes' as the hospitals debacle reaches a critical phase.
The previous day, ex-PM Joseph Muscat, former OPM chief-of-staff Keith Schembri and former minister Konrad Mizzi pleaded not guilty to bribery, corruption and other crimes.
As he walked into court, he said he was determined to "continue defending his integrity".
He said all decisions he had taken so far - including his resignation - had been taken in the interest of the people and the country, and he will defend his name in court, and not on the streets.
“I understand I need to answer for my actions like every other citizen.
“Throughout my tenure as minister and deputy prime minister I always acted with utmost correctness and today I will continue to defend my integrity.”
He also said he was the person who asked the auditor general to investigate the concession in 2016 - a probe he said completely exonerated him from all guilt.
He did not answer any of the reporters’ follow-up questions.
Fearne's statement hints at an attempt to distance himself from Muscat’s appearances in public in recent weeks especially at campaign events organised by PL MEP hopefuls.
On Tuesday, the court ordered the various parties to refrain from making public comments about the case. The request for a ban on comments was made by lawyer Francesco Refalo from the AG's office, who pointed at statements by Muscat, Mizzi and Vitals auditor Chris Spiteri which he said were "more appropriate for some TV series".
Although they did not turn up in the hundreds as they did for Muscat on Tuesday, Fearne's supporters outside the courthouse on Wednesday applauded him and thanked him for his service to the country.
Like Scicluna, Fearne is not seen to have played a major role in the scandal, but investigators believe they failed to flag and challenge the deal.
Fearne was health minister overseeing the deal until it was annulled last year.
Despite once famously describing Steward as “the real deal” when it took over the hospitals concessions from Vitals, the deputy PM later revealed the company had been running parallel talks with Mizzi and Muscat’s office while engaged in negotiations with the Health Ministry.
Fearne repeatedly claimed he was kept in the dark throughout the negotiations and had only learned of the concession being transferred to Steward from media reports.
Last year, he told the auditor general that he had “expressed his dissatisfaction” with the work carried out by Vitals in the months leading to the concession.