A court has revoked permission for former PM Joseph Muscat and his wife Michelle to participate in a perjury case against former FIAU official Jonathan Ferris, Times of Malta reports.

They had previously been granted ‘parte civile’ status in the case, allowing them to be represented by a lawyer as an injured party.

Their parte civile statues was, however, revoked by Magistrate Marseann Farrugia on Monday. She ruled that that permission could not have been given by a magistrate who later abstained from the case.

The original decision had been given in November by Magistrate Joe Mifsud, who abstained later in the same sitting due to a possible conflict of interest.

This was due to the fact that he is also presiding over a case in which former Pilatus Bank whistleblower Maria Efimova is facing charges of making false accusations against three police officers, including Ferris himself.

Magistrate Marseanne Farrugia said on Monday that any recusal must come before any other decisions in the case are taken. Magistrate Mifsud’s decision ran counter to legal provisions on recusal, she said.

“Once the magistrate felt he needed to abstain, he could not decide on other acts of the case and, therefore, could not decide on the request filed by the Muscats."

The decision was taken during the first hearing against Ferris, who is accused of perjury over claims he made about the Egrant inquiry.

He had claimed that he had identified a $600,000 payment from the daughter of Azeri president Ilham Alijev, Leyla Aliyeva, to Buttardi, a fashion company owned by a close friend of Michelle Muscat. Ferris had claimed the payment was masked as a loan.

Prosecuting officers Wayne Rodney Borg and George Frendo said on Monday that they had checked the FIAU files and found no evidence of such a transaction. They then proceeded to charge Ferris with perjury.

The Egrant inquiry had taken place after slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had reported Efimova’s claim that the third Panama company belonged to Joseph and Michelle Muscat.

The lengthy inquiry had found no evidence linking the former PM and his wife to the company.

Lawyers Kris Busietta and Jason Azzopardi are representing Jonathan Ferris. 

The case against Efimova was not heard since she could not be traced. She is the subject of a European Arrest Warrant.