The Prime Minister should move forward with the impeachment motion of Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, and not try to hide before the ruling which Speaker Anġlu Farrugia is set to hand down on the validity of this motion, possibly this evening, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said.

Asked to comment by timesofmalta.com in the wake of the legal advice given to the Speaker that the impeachment motion filed by former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to remove Dr Farrugia Sacco was “dead”, Dr Busuttil said the Prime Minister had to be consistent with the declarations made in the wake of the decision reached by the Commission for the Administration of Justice that there was prima facie evidence of inappropriate behaviour.

Dr Busuttil argued that through all this controversy, Dr Muscat had pledged to follow the Commission’s advice.

Asked about the legal arguments behind the PN’s claim that the impeachment motion was still valid, he referred to a memorandum written by former Speaker Lawrence Gonzi in 1996 which had gone into the merits of a similar scenario.

He added that even the Erskine May, considered as the reference book of parliamentary procedure, stipulated that such motions were carried forward from one legislature to another.