Justice Minister Owen Bonnici this evening apologised if his reply to a question by Times of Malta misguided the newspaper, a member or the House.

He was referring to an article in Times of Malta today ‘Minister refers paper back to the future’.

The minister had scolded the newspaper for not taken any notice of a reply he said he had given in Parliament over a month ago but which, is not due to be tabled until July 1.

The question had been posed by shadow minister Jason Azzopardi.

Dr Azzopardi pointed out this evening that it was not right for the minister to give the media a reply to his question before first giving this to him.

Questions asked in Parliament, he said, should be answered in Parliament.

Dr Bonnici said he received the question from Dr Azzopardi on May 27 and he replied immediately and passed on the reply to the official in his ministry who was responsible for parliamentary questions.

He said that on June 15, he received an identical set of question from Times of Malta and MaltaToday and he decided to reply by referring the journalists to his reply to the PQ.

Dr Bonnici said that if he had given the newspaper reason to understand that the question was already answered in Parliament, he apologised.

“I have no intention to misguide the media, a member or the House,” he said.