Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat would not comment on speculation about a possible political return.

Speculation has been rife as to whether Muscat will be making a political return following a Facebook video he posted soon after his house was searched on 19 January.

Muscat's Burmarrad home was searched by the police as part of investigations regarding the hospitals’ deal. The former Prime Minister had spoken about the way the search was conducted, arguing that the road of “theatrics” was chosen, as he says he had offered to testify in the inquiry last November, after it had been reported that Muscat had received €60,000 from Accutor AG, a company which in turn pocketed millions from Steward Healthcare when it took over a contract to run St Luke's Hospital, Gozo Hospital and Karen Grech Hospital.

Muscat also said in the video that someone might have wanted to send a message, that the police searched his home, without elaborating further. He also noted that journalists were present outside his home at the time of the search and that PN MP Jason Azzopardi knew about the search beforehand. He said he will not be intimidated by what happened. If the intention was to shut him up, the effect will be the opposite, he said. He had said that he had spent two years mostly in silence since the resignation and that after his birthday celebrations on Saturday (which happened on 22 January), he might make more noise, speak more over the internet as well as face-to-face. This led to some speculation that Muscat might be considering a return to politics in some form soon.

In August 2021, Muscat had said that he was not ruling out a return to politics, but was clear that he would not contest the coming election or make a future party leader bid. 

Given the recent events however, he was contacted by The Malta Independent on Sunday and asked to confirm or deny the speculation that he is considering a return to politics. "I have no further comment to make. I already think there was unnecessary speculation on the matter. I have no further comments to make."

There has also been speculation that some of the comments he has made were targeted towards Prime Minister Robert Abela. Indeed, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech had even said that the action taken against Muscat was interpreted by some as Abela wanting to break the former Prime Minister.

Asked about the idea that some of his comments were targeted at Abela, Muscat outright denied it. "No, that is speculation." 

On 29 January, Muscat had released another Facebook video where he called for an investigation into how information was leaked about his house being searched by the police. Asked whether the police have confirmed that they will investigate the leak or if he received any form of confirmation of such an investigation, Muscat would also not comment on this. "I said what I had to say."