Naxxar mayor Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami expressed the council’s opinion with her vote on a proposed development in the locality, the council said on Thursday.

Muscat Fenech Adami was asked to resign from the Nationalist Party and is being investigated by an ethics committee after she voted in favour of a development on the parking grounds of the former trade fair complex.

She had been accused of having a conflict of interest after it emerged that she is a company secretary in a company owned by the project architect, Edwin Mintoff.

The ethics probe was launched after the mayor refused to resign, saying she was  morally convinced that she had done nothing wrong.

The Naxxar council has now adopted a resolution that states that the mayor’s vote reflected the position taken by the council, and which had been communicated on more than one occasion.

It also said the mayor has a duty to vote according to the wishes of the council and, if she had voted against the project, she would have gone against the council’s position.

The council also said that it had taken its position on the proposed development after holding several consultation meetings with residents.

PN secretary general Michael Piccinino had asked the ethics commission to investigate the case in December. It was later reported that the case was postponed until January.