Jean Pierre Debono will not face any further investigation into the way he handled proxy votes during the party's recent leadership election, the Nationalist Party said this evening.  

In a statement, the party's Administrative Council said that it had accepted the conclusions reached by its electoral commission as well as a written apology by Mr Debono in which he pledged to play no part in other party electoral processes to be held this year. 

It nevertheless said it was publicly warning Mr Debono about his actions and said that the party would not tolerate any abuse in its electoral processes. 

Mr Debono was accused of collecting a member’s voting document through a proxy issued without the voter’s consent. The member said the signature on the proxy was not his.

READ: MP resignation not linked to proxy vote issue, Mr Debono insists

When summoned to defend himself before the commission, Mr Debono denied forging any signatures but admitted to having used proxies so that sectional committees could collect voting documents on behalf of members unable to do so themselves - an act the commission criticised as a "ruse". 

Controversy concerning Mr Debono's handling of proxy votes came to light last week, after a copy of the report was leaked to the media. 

Mr Debono, who was elected to parliament on the seventh district last June, has since resigned his parliamentary seat. He has insisted that decision was not linked to the proxy vote controversy.