Enough Evidence Presented For Chris Fearne And Edward Scicluna To Stand Trial, Court Rules
A court ruling has just found there is enough prima facie evidence for Labour MP and former Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne to stand trial.
Magistrate Leonard Caruana’s ruling came just over an hour ago, with current Central Bank Governor and former Finance Minister Edward Scicluna also being mentioned, alongside 13 others facing charges and a potential bill of indictment in connection with the Vitals hospitals concession.
This round of hearings and court appointments kicked off in a now-annulled 10-hour sitting at Court on 29th May.
This morning, just after 10am, in a short sitting that took around 15 minutes, the court upheld the prosecution’s request that each of the accused registers their contact numbers and emails and makes sure they answer to any calls and emails. The court also imposed a €10,000 personal guarantee to make sure they abide by this
Exiting court around half an hour later, Fearne told journalists he will look at the decision in more detail before commenting on the matter, promising a statement “later”.
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The criminal charges against Fearne saw him resign from the government’s cabinet and withdraw his nomination for the position of European Commissioner.
And while Fearne and Scicluna are among those facing lesser charges over the controversial Vitals hospital deal than ones like former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his Chief of Staff Keith Schembri and former minister Konrad Mizzi, their charges still carry a potential prison sentence of up to 12 and a half years.
What do you make of this latest development?
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