Former Health Minister Chris Fearne might still get the nod to become Malta’s European Commissioner if the court hearing his Vitals case finds there not enough prima facie evidence to indict him, Prime Minister Robert Abela said Wednesday.

Taking questions from the media, Abela said he does not exclude the possibility. “It’s one of the most probable possibilities,” he said.

Fearne is facing criminal charges in connection with the hospitals magisterial inquiry. The case continued today and a decision on whether the court sees enough evidence against Fearne to indict him will be taken next week.

Prime Minister Abela has up to 24 July to nominate Malta’s representative.

In one of the recent sittings, Auditor General Charles Deguara had said that an investigation had found no shortcomings on Fearne’s part.

Last January, Fearne had veen moved away from the Health Ministry to the Ministry of European Funds as Abela had nominated him as Malta’s next European Commissioner. Fearne had withdrawn his nomination along as he presented his resignation from the Cabinet in the wake of the accusations brought against him.

Abela said that on Thursday the courts will be ruling on a case instituted by the Nationalist Party in which the Opposition is seeking to find Fearne, among others, responsible for the hospitals' saga.

Last year, a deal which saw the transfer of three public hospitals first to a company called Vitals and later to Steward, was rescinded, with the court desrcibing the deal as being fradulent.

In April this year, a magisterial inquiry into the case was concluded, and this led to the arraignment of Fearne and others. In a separate case, former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was also charged with criminal offences. In his case, the court has already found prima facie evidence for him to be indicted.