The CEO of St Philip's Hospital, Frank Portelli said the Medical Council acted "outside the powers granted to it by law" when it fined him €10,000 and threatened to remove him from the medical register.
In a strongly worded statement, he said the council had no legal authority to decide on the actions of a CEO of a private hospital and asked it to "immediately withdraw" the decision or "face legal consequences".
Dr Portelli said he would be holding "each individual member of the Medical Council legally liable for damages" to his reputation.
The issue is about allegations of overcharging made by Dr Portelli in 2003 against Louis Buhagiar, who occasionally worked at St Philip's Hospital.
Dr Portelli, in his capacity as CEO of the private hospital, had informed Dr Buhagiar by means of a letter that he had been suspended from St Philip's, The letter had been copied to all hospital staff and the Medical Association of Malta.
Dr Portelli had also written to Josie Muscat, a director at Saint James Capua Hospital, asking him to also suspend Dr Buhagiar.
Last week, the council found that the letter was defamatory in Dr Buhagiar's regard and ordered Dr Portelli to pay a fine of €10,000, threatening to strike Dr Portelli off the medical register if he failed to pay.
Dr Portelli insisted he had written the letter in his capacity as CEO of St Philip's Hospital. He also defended the contents of the letter in which he had informed Dr Buhagiar of his suspension because of "repeated complaints received about the professional fees Dr Buhagiar was charging patients".
Dr Portelli said the council should ensure sick patients came before doctors' interests.
In a curt statement, the council yesterday saw fit to point out that it had never ascribed the title of "professor" when referring to Dr Buhagiar. The council was reacting to a number of queries it received from doctors about the matter.
"The Medical Council would like to clarify that it never attributed or allocated the appellation of professor to Dr Buhagiar," it said.