(Last updated 7.10pm adding Dr Muscat's letter to Dr Busuttil and board of inquiry's terms of reference)

An inquiry board made up of three retired members of the judiciary is to be set up to establish the truth in the incident on Wednesday night which saw Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia’s security driver fire shots at a British driver’s car.

The board will be given 15 days to conclude its investigations.

In a statement this afternoon, the Prime Minister said that the board was being set up in view of the repeated cover-up allegations being made.

It would be requested to determine if there was illicit involvement by Dr Mallia and/or other officials in the case, including to cover-up the driver’s behaviour. (See terms of reference in pdf link below)

As announced in a tweet some 45 minutes before the statement, the Prime Minister said he would be inviting the Opposition leader to nominate a former member of the judiciary of his trust to preside the board.

This was being done to ensure full transparency.

Later today, the Prime Minister sent Dr Busuttil a letter (see pdf link below) with his invitation and giving Dr Busuttil until tomorrow at 6pm to come up with his nomination.

The Prime Minister said he took the decision to appoint this board because he believed all facts should be made known and investigated transparently and correctly.

The decision was also taken following Dr Mallia’s request who informed him he was willing to undergo all the necessary scrutiny to show he was correct in his behaviour.

In a replying tweet, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said "@JosephMuscat_JM stop 'shooting' from the hip and stand up to be counted. It's your mess, now deal w it. Be a Prime Minister for once."

In a statement replying to the Prime Minister's statement, Dr Busuttil said the Prime Minister was with his back to the wall and weak when faced with abuse of power.

Instead of doing what everyone expected and remove Dr Mallia, he was now trying to lengthen the process and pass the buck.

He wanted to hold a second inquiry when everyone knew that no judge could decide who should shoulder political responsibility for what happened.

It was the Prime Minister who dismissed minister and not a judge. But it was clear that the Prime Minister was too weak to shoulder this responsibility, Dr Busuttil said.

Earlier today, the Prime Minister said the driver's behaviour was inexcusable and an unjustifiable overreaction.

Speaking on Radio Malta’s programme Ghandi x’Nghid, Dr Muscat reiterated that he was shocked at the incident and the reaction of a member of a disciplinary force.

Asked whether Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia should shoulder political responsibility for the fact that the wrong information was given when it was stated that warning shots in the air were fired when shots were actually fired at the car, Dr Muscat said Dr Mallia would shoulder political responsibility if he knew what was happening and gave the order for the wrong information to be issued.

The Prime Minister said he asked how this happened and it was definitely not a case of cover-up which could not happen in the middle of the road with cameras filming the incident.

Government officials, he said, had been in continuous contact with journalists as there was concern that one might think that information was being hidden, so the decision was taken to pass on all information as soon as this was received without it being verified.

The Prime Minister said that Dr Mallia’s first statement was made the day after the incident, when he gave the version of events as he knew them and corrected the information that had been given in the government statement a day earlier.

It did not result, Dr Muscat said, that the wrong information was given maliciously.

Read report of Opposition leader's press conference and acting Police Commissioner's statement here.

HELENA DALLI'S PROPERTY

Asked about the case of Minister Helena Dalli, who owned a property on which illegal works were being carried out, the Prime Minister said that the works were being carried out by the person who was buying the property and he was informed this was what was usually done when there was a promise of sale agreement.

As to the machinery on site, he said he was informed and there was also an engineer’s report confirming that this machinery was inoperable and had been dumped on site.

He said that he did not like such matters and appealed to people to be more cautious in the way they worked.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

The Prime Minister was also asked about the public transport agreement with a Spanish operator which may be delayed because of court action.

Dr Muscat said he was informed that the protesters were contesting the fact that the handover was to be over a number of weeks when they had understood it would be overnight.

The government was learning from experience and did not want the Arriva experience to be repeated and that was why it wanted the transposition to be over a number of weeks.

He said that in the meantime, the government was working with the protesting consortium, which included the Unscheduled Bus Service, which was providing the current service. For them this meant that the longer the contract was postponed the more money they earned because the government would have to continue using their service. So they had an interest in delaying the contract.

ARMIER

On the case of the illegal Armier boathouses, he said that it had been made clear that tenants applying for a smart meter would not get a title on the property. The situation was that a number of people were stealing electricity and he wanted this to stop until a solution was found. People had been given time to apply for the service and enforcement would start in the coming days.

The government also had to see that this place did not remain a shanty town, he had to see why the process initiated under the previous government was halted or why it was not made public, where talks were at and the government would then take its decisions.

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