An inquiry into a company that controls a slaughterhouse and whether it had received favourable treatment from state departments was forced to suspend its hearings after one of its members had to self-isolate as a close contact of a confirmed Covid case.

In a statement on Thursday, the three-member panel said two hearings scheduled for May 10 and May 12 have been postponed.

The panel said it would issue an announcement when the hearings were rescheduled.

Cypra slaughterhouse is owned by the husband of the state treasurer.

It found itself in the eye of the storm last November after some 100 staff at the facility tested positive for the coronavirus.

It later emerged that the majority were asylum seekers who had not been declared to the department of social insurance.

The matter gradually snowballed, revealing building code and environmental violations that were never properly addressed, ostensibly due to slow bureaucratic and legal procedures.