The young student lawyer was a nobody. But he was fascinated by power.  He thought himself a modern day Napoleon who could break the laws and make new ones to suit him better. He thought he was strong and ruthless. He believed he was extraordinary and therefore had the right to commit immoral acts for, what he convinced himself, was the greater good. Being extraordinary he could set his own morality, he felt above the law.  The end he believed justified the means.

So when he found out about an incredibly rich elderly pawnbroker with drawers full of money, he resented her wealth.  He believed he was more deserving of those riches than she was. Convinced of his own superiority and exceptionalism, he took an axe to the old woman's head and bludgeoned her to death to take her money for himself. He quietened his conscience by making himself believe he would put the old hag's money to better use.

That young student was Rodion Raskolnikov, the key protagonist in what is considered Dostoevsky's masterpiece, one of the best novels ever written - Crime and Punishment.

Dostoevsky brilliantly demonstrates the dangers of Raskolnikov's two key philosophies - utilitarianism and rationalism - the idea that bad actions are justified as long as they benefit more people and the belief that "great" people should not be subject to moral norms or legal boundaries.

That young student lawyer has much in common with another young lawyer - Robert Abela.  That wealthy old hag is Malta.  And like Raskolnikov, Abela bludgeoned her to death, robbing her of her riches.

Like Raskolnikov, Abela is fascinated with wealth.  €17,000 euro per month from the Planning Authority didn't suffice.  He demanded tens of thousands more in overtime payments.  He steadily accumulated riches, property, luxuries, but even that wasn't enough. So when the opportunity came, he grabbed it.  He was catapulted to Castille from where he relentlessly bludgeoned Malta to death while he benefitted from her riches.

Abela authorised the payment of hundreds of millions of euro to Steward, despite their evident failure to achieve any of the milestones they were contracted to reach. Fake stories were created to ruin Chris Fearne.  And millions more flowed out of the country. 

Steward is now bankrupt and facing criminal investigation in the United States.  Armin Ernst and Ralph de la Torre, Steward's bosses, were detained and their electronic equipment seized by federal agents. Abela was warned repeatedly.  He knew Steward was sucking the country dry.  Yet he continued to pump millions of our money into their pockets.

He's responsible for handing over our land to developers.  He ignored the pleas of Mellieha residents and gave away green land in il-Qortin to the developer who provided Silvio Schembri with his offices.  An alley at Villa Rosa worth millions was handed over to another developer for peanuts.  Abela handed over land that was illegally reclaimed by Fortina - whose director Michael Zammit Tabona had Joseph Muscat as his consultant. Abela changed the local plans to enable a massive development at Villa Rosa after having spent years telling us the local plans are set in stone. He's building a waterside restaurant with our money to give to his friends, Paul and Mark Gauci, tal-Gedida.

He's awarded Bonnici Brothers, whose director Gilbert was Abela's business partner, a €600 million contract to build a waste-to-energy plant despite their lack of expertise in the field.  He paid Bonnici Brothers €37 million for a temporary power station that was never used. Bonnici Brothers were awarded another €4.6 million contract to convert a Marsascala waste treatment facility into a park despite multiple objections.  Bonnici Brothers received an undisclosed sum of money from Malta Enterprise for their Ta' Zuta quarry and Robert Abela inaugurated the project.

Abela has stoutly defended flagrant abuse by his ministers.  He leapt to Clayton Bartolo's and Clint Camilleri's defence over the tens of thousands they abusively awarded Bartolo's girlfriend.  He's invited Justyne Caruana back into the fold despite her shameful contract for her boyfriend which the Standards Commissioner considered "potentially criminal". He's rehabilitated Rosianne Cutajar back into Labour's parliamentary group despite taking tens of thousands of state funds for a job she did not do.

Now Abela is trying to protect himself, his ministers and their accomplices by changing the law to guarantee their impunity for any wrongdoing.  He's determined to rob the nation of its right to demand justice through magisterial inquiries. He's ruthlessly attacking the free press and accusing them of publishing lies.  "90% of what they report contains falsehoods," he lied. He demanded the investigation of whistleblowers who leaked damning investigations and inquiries. He openly attacked members of the judiciary who diligently did their duty. He openly harassed a magistrate accusing her of "political terrorism". He openly voices his violent disdain for civil society dubbing them "the extremist faction of the PN". He viciously attacked journalists accusing them of being "part of the establishment".

He's reappointed people like Joseph Cuschieri and Johann Buttigieg to key positions of responsibility despite their dark history. He's even defended Sandro Craus who's facing criminal investigation over the fake job to Melvin Theuma, the middleman in the Caruana Galizia assassination. "My instructions are to help the Maltese people," Craus insisted.  That's Robert Abela's mantra too. When Ian Borg's involvement in the driving licences scandal was exposed, Abela insisted he was "just doing his job" of "helping the people".

Robert Abela is our very own Raskolnikov. Everything is justified for the greater good - keeping Labour in power. The rules don't apply to him - he's entitled to break them because he's special.

But Raskolnikov wasn't as ruthless as he thought.  His crime led him to a pscyhological hell of guilt and horror over what he'd done. His torment was finally ended when he turned himself in to the police to face justice for his crimes. He was sentenced to exile in Siberia where his redemption is finally achieved.