The Prime Minister said this evening he was “angry and disgusted” at an incident yesterday in which the Home Affairs Minister’s driver fired three shots at another car.

The Opposition leader, however, accused the Prime Minister of being weak in the face of abuse of power.

In a statement, the Office of the Prime Minister said the same sentiments as Dr Muscat's were expressed by the minister during a meeting this afternoon.

The Prime Minister said that the way the situation escalated was not acceptable and there was no place for people who used their position in a way which could be understood to be abusive and excessive.

The Prime Minister said he spoke to the minister and they agreed that strong action had to be taken with the person involved. This included his removal from the ministry and his immediate suspension from the police force. In this instance, the Prime Minister said, it seemed that the driver breached the minister’s trust.

The case, the Prime Minister said, was under a magisterial inquiry, which the Prime Minister hoped would be concluded as soon as possible.

PRIME MINISTER 'WEAK' TO FACE ABUSE OF POWER

In a reply, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said if the Prime Minister wanted to be believed, he should have the courage to take the necessary action.

The only step he could take was to dismiss the Home Affairs Minister who was caught lying to cover-up the incident.

The Prime Minister, Dr Busuttil said, was shirking his responsibility as Prime Minister and was afraid of taking action against his minister, Manuel Mallia.

Dr Muscat was weak when faced with abuse of power.

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