The police are expected to charge Home Affairs Ministry security driver Paul Sheehan with attempted murder after he was released from hospital yesterday following checks for chest pains.

Doctors ran a battery of tests on the 40-year-old constable after he was admitted on Monday afternoon complaining of pains associated with heart stress.

He was released in the afternoon and told to rest at home.

Police have concluded discussions with the Attorney General

Meanwhile, the police have concluded discussions with the Attorney General and are expected to proceed with charges of attempted murder.

Mr Sheehan caused the biggest political storm under this administration after he fired two shots at an unarmed man, 30-year-old Stephen Smith, following a traffic accident on Wednesday evening.

Initially, the government – relying on the initial version the policeman assigned to the minister gave officers on site ­– said warning shots had been fired in the air.

However, that turned out not to be true, with bullet holes clearly visible on the rear, left-hand tail light and the roof of Mr Smith’s silver Vauxhall Insignia.

The number of bullets fired was established by the fact that the officer’s standard-issue Glock 17 was missing two shells from its 17-round magazine.

The incident started when Mr Smith’s car hit the ministry’s Mercedes Benz parked in Gżira, outside the Sheehans’ house.

He drove off and the policeman chased him. At one point, he caught up with the Scotsman in Wied il-Kappara, a residential road behind the national pool, but when he emerged from his car brandishing a gun, Mr Smith took off again. It was at that point that the shots were fired. The car chase ended in the tunnels beneath the skate park in Msida.

Mr Sheehan was taken to Mater Dei Hospital by ambulance from his mother’s home in Gżira after he and his brother angrily mistook the presence of the inquiring magistrate outside the house on Monday as a sign that he was about to be arrested.

Earlier that day, some news portals had mistakenly reported that he was expected to be arraigned, possibly on attempted homicide charges.

The miscommunication concerning the information that was first given by the government on the incident raised concerns of a possible cover-up.

It was compounded by the fact that the police – who fall under Dr Mallia’s ministerial portfolio – moved the Scotsman’s car before the inquiring magistrate had arrived on site.

The Prime Minister has appointed three retired judges to look into the cover-up claim.

They are chairman Alberto Magri David Camilleri and Phillip Sciberras. The board was given a fortnight to submit its findings.