No action will be taken against Home Affairs Manuel Mallia until a magisterial inquiry into an incident on Wednesday in which the Home Affairs Minister’s driver fired three shots at another car is concluded, Prime Minsiter Joseph Muscat said this morning.
According to an official statement sent on Wednesday night, the driver fired two shots in the air but it was confirmed yesterday morning that three shots were actually fired, all of which hit the rear of the Briton's car.
Asked whether he would be taking action against his minister, the Prime Minister said that the minister would shoulder political responsibility if the inquiry found that he was involved in a cover up.
He said he did not agree that Dr Mallia’s position was not tenable because of the situation.
In a tweet later today, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil asked why was the Prime Minister hiding behind a magisterial inquiry.
"You don't need one to see that the minister lied," he said.
Reacting to the Prime Minister’s comments in the afternoon, Opposition deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami said Dr Muscat was hiding behind the magisterial inquiry because he lost control of certain members of his Cabinet.
The PN yesterday called upon Dr Muscat to force the resignation of Dr Mallia, after his version of events surrounding a shooting incident involving his chauffeur did not tally with photos published in the press.
Dr Fenech Adami today questioned who the ‘real prime minister’ was, Dr Muscat or Dr Mallia.
“Dr Muscat has lost control over Dr Mallia. He is not capable of taking action against him, and this begs the question, who is the real Prime Minister,” he said.
MINISTER INSISTS THERE WAS NO COVER-UP
In a statement this evening, Dr Mallia insisted there was no attempt to cover up any facts about the incident.
He said that no information was hidden in the statement issue except for a fact that was corrected in a news conference called the following morning.
More importantly, a magisterial inquiry to establish all the facts was ordered immediately.
Dr Mallia said this government believed in the institutions and left it up to the inquiry to establish the whole truth.