Planning Authority board member Matthew Pace should resign, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Wednesday.

"I agree with the minister [Ian Borg] and think he should resign," Dr Muscat said in response to a question by Times of Malta.

Pressed to say whether he would go beyond mere words - given that Mr Pace was nominated to the board by the government - the Prime Minister said that he had to respect existing structures.  

"We have the rule of law. I can’t just tell an authority what to do. That said, I gave my opinion on what I think he should do, and I think that has certain weight," Dr Muscat said.

Mr Pace was found to have a conflict of interest in the db Group's City Centre project in Pembroke - a project he voted in favour of. 

A court last week said that Mr Pace should have recused himself from that vote, given that he stood to gain from the project being approved through his ownership of a real estate franchise that was selling apartments in the proposed project.

Despite that, Mr Pace has said he has no intention of quitting the PA board.

He believes the court judgment was based on “factually incorrect” information and argues that he had never been given the opportunity to make his case.

“I always acted in good faith and in a transparent manner,” he said.

Planning Minister Ian Borg told Times of Malta on Monday that Mr Pace should “respect” the court decision, though he stopped short of saying that he would sack him.