Muscat decided on Thursday to hold a sham inquiry. It was convenient, because the magistrate on duty was the first he appointed, in June 2013, which indicates some kind of relationship with Labour.

Nexia BT cleared out their documents during the day. They were spotted by people who work in other offices in the same building.

But Pilatus Bank couldn’t do that, because the owner doesn’t live in Malta. They had to wait for him to fly in from wherever. He said himself that he had come straight from the airport when journalists door-stepped him with the bags he was carrying out of the office at around 9pm.

Once that was done, Muscat announced his inquiry at the highly unusual hour of around 11.30pm. He couldn’t wait until the next day because another magistrate would be on duty.

This Maltese business of ‘magisterial inquiries’ is beyond ridiculous. Magistrates in Malta should never have an investigative function or role because they are not trained in investigation.

Take this magistrate, for example. One minute he’s a humdrum lawyer dealing with ordinary clients in the course of his daily professional practice, and the next he’s a magistrate investigating a massive, but massive, corruption scandal involving the prime minister, top level government politicians, the ruler of Azerbaijan, and an entire corrupt accountancy outfit, all centred round a shady bank set up by an Iranian in his early 30s with quadruple passports issued by St Kitts & Nevis. So help us God.

What also baffles me in this country of ours is how Nexia BT now known to have orchestrated all this Panama corruption still has an accounting and audit licence.