President Guido de Marco yesterday evening presided over an urgent meeting of the Commission for the Administration of Justice, which was called to determine how to deal with the motion for the impeachment of Chief Justice Noel Arrigo and Mr Justice Patrick Vella for alleged wrong-doing.

Four of the 10-member commission did not turn up for the three-hour meeting, which was held at Verdala Castle.

A few minutes after it started, a spokesman for the President said the commission had agreed not to allow the press to cover any part of the meeting.

After the meeting ended, Prof. de Marco waved to the press waiting outside but declined to comment.

The others taking part were Acting Chief Justice Joseph David Camilleri, Magistrate Silvio Meli, retired judge Victor Caruana Colombo, Dr Joe Azzopardi and Dr Joe Micallef Stafrace.

Apart from Chief Justice Noel Arrigo, the other members who were not present were Mr Justice Vincent Degaetano, Magistrate Dennis Montebello and Attorney General Dr Anthony Borg Barthet.

No reason was given for the absence of the latter three.

Sources said the meeting determined the logistics of how the case would be heard and who would chair the process.

The government started impeachment proceedings on Saturday after it resulted there was enough proof of wrong-doing according to the constitution.

The impeachment motion was signed by the prime minister and by the leader of the opposition and presented to the Speaker on Monday night.

If the commission believes there is a prima facie case to support the impeachment, after hearing evidence from the prime minister or the police commissioner, it will inform parliament to start impeachment proceedings.

A two-thirds majority is then required for the impeachment motion to be carried.

Sources yesterday said the judicial authorities were looking at how they could best deal with a situation in which the workload of the judiciary had now to be shared between fewer judges, especially since one of the judges involved in the case is the Chief Justice. The other judge tackles criminal cases and both sit on the court of appeal.

Sources expressed concern over the impact that a prolonged impeachment process could have on the flow of cases and the workload of the courts.

They said the process would take several weeks, and possibly a few months.