The fate of the senior shipmaster who claimed there were safety flaws on Gozo Channel ferries would be decided during a board meeting on Friday, company chairman Joseph Grech said.

The captain is suspended on full pay after most of his claims were dismissed in an inquiry report tabled in Parliament last week.

Mario Grech filed a judicial protest in September claiming lack of life-saving equipment and safety drills aboard the ferries and alleging Legionella bacteria was present in their water supply.

He was pulled off the roster pending the outcome of an internal inquiry into his allegations, called by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech.

The inquiry report dismissed all but one of Capt. Grech's claims, that a boatswain had used a forged certificate to get a promotion. In fact, this had led to the officer receiving a suspended sentence for forgery and the company's former HR manager facing charges.

Capt. Grech is contesting the findings and filed a second judicial protest on Thursday accusing some members of the inquiry board of conflict of interest because, among other things, they held important positions at the Finance Ministry.

He also claimed that board member Ghassan Abdullah could not be objective because he had been rejected in his bid to become chief officer at Gozo Channel by a board chaired by Capt. Grech only a "few months" before.

Both the ministry and Capt. Abdullah have denied the accusations.

The ministry insisted that none of the board members, except Carmel Conti, was a ministry employee, adding that Mr Conti was the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.

Capt. Abdullah said the only time he met Capt. Grech was 15 years ago and not "a few months before" for a job, which he eventually turned down.