The country, or at least the more politically-minded section of the country, which truth be told is most of the nation, is in for a treat on Wednesday – the day after the Santa Marija holiday.

That is because it will be the day that Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi will hear the appeal against a magistrate’s ruling that there are sufficient grounds for a fully-fledged investigation into the seven central figures who featured in the Maltese dimension of the Panama Papers revelations.

Such an inquiry would investigate whether money laundering laws were broken when what were once secret Panamanian companies had been opened by the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri and Minister Konrad Mizzi.

It was Mr Justice Mizzi’s lot to be chosen to make what will be a difficult ruling on whether such an investigation should go ahead after all seven players – Mizzi, Schembri, the Prime Minister as well as Schembri’s alleged co-conspirators Malcolm Scerri and Adrian Hillman, and financial architects Brian Tonna and Karl Cini – filed an appeal against the magistrate’s verdict reached after a request by Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil.

And whatever the result of Wednesday’s hearing, if there is indeed a result that day, sparks are bound to fly. 

Should the judge rule against the appeal, the judicial wheels will be set in motion and a thorough inquiry into all that had been revealed by the Panama Papers will begin in earnest. This inquiry will run alongside the many other magisterial inquiries already underway on related subject matter.

But should the judge rule in favour of the appeal we have a distinct feeling that, however sound the reasoning is behind such a decision, that yet another of the country’s institutions – the judiciary itself – could very well begin being called into question.

Whatever the outcome of the case, that should not be allowed to come to pass. This is, after all, an issue that touches, and which could threaten to crack, the very foundation of the country’s democratic structures. It is also one that could call into question the separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches.

Mr Justice Mizzi, whose wife happens to be Labour Party European Parliamentarian Marlene Mizzi, who herself has been nothing less than a sterling representative of Malta at the European Parliament, will be deciding on a desperate appeal that includes three very senior members of government who are not very keen on a deeper exploration of the Panama Papers’ revelations.

Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi has nothing but the soundest of reputations. His credentials when it comes to jurisprudence speak for themselves and are not and must not be called into question. And as such, we are certain that he will absolutely not be swayed by his better half’s political exigencies or by supposed pressure to uphold the status of the judiciary by ruling against the appeal, which we are sure some will incorrectly and disingenuously accuse this newspaper of seeking to apply.

Yet, there is a very real risk that either scenario may unfold depending, of course, on the ruling that is to be made.

Should he rule in favour of the appeal, questions will be asked. Perhaps not by politicians, but by members of the public who are more than ever taking to the social media to express their oftentimes twisted logic. And whether we like it or not such opinions are broadcast freely, unabated and usually without much thought about their repercussions.

The public, as we know all too well, is a cynical lot. They see hidden agendas, ulterior motives and hidden hands at play virtually wherever they look. But no matter what the public thinks of any of the country’s institutions – the government, the police corps, or the media for that matter – the public must always be able to look to the judiciary with confidence. They need to be assured that justice is indeed blind and that it is in the halls of justice that justice will be done without fear or favour.

And in the wake of the ruling, the public at large, and politicians of all stripes, must be intelligent enough to respect the fact that the independence and impartiality of the judiciary must absolutely never be called into question.

We as a nation must have faith in the judiciary and in the integrity of the judge hearing the appeal, whatever the outcome of the appeal. Anything short of that puts the country as a whole on a very slippery slope indeed.