One of the men charged with bribing former judge Ray Pace, who was found dead at his home on Sunday, will be allowed to leave the country while out on bail to continue working as a truck driver.

In the sitting, which happened to be held on the same day as Dr Pace’s funeral, Raymond Caruana, 51, from Żebbuġ, made one request to travel abroad and another to have his curfew extended by some three hours.

Mr Caruana and Sandro Psaila, a 40-year-old restaurateur from Valletta, have both been charged with bribing Dr Pace in an attempt to ensure a long prison term for convicted drug trafficker Darren Desira.

Magistrate Edwina Grima granted permission for Mr Caruana to travel to Europe and also allowed him to stay out until 1am.

Dr Pace’s body was found at his home on Sunday and a postmortem examination confirmed that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.

The case against Dr Pace, who was facing charges of trading in influence and bribery, is expected to be formally closed on Monday when his death certificate is presented and the magistrate declares the extinguishment of the criminal action.