Manuel Mallia yesterday justified his refusal to step down as home affairs minister saying the inquiry by three retired judges absolved him from any “participation” in a cover-up attempt.

Dr Mallia was sacked by the Prime Minister on Tuesday, a day after the three former judges concluded in their inquiry into the shooting incident involving his driver that he failed to correct an official statement claiming that warning shots had been fired when the facts indicated otherwise.

In a letter tabled in Parliament by the Prime Minister at the start of a debate on the conclusions of the inquiry last night, Dr Mallia said he could not attend Parliament because he was sick but noted he would remain an MP “to help the Labour Party implement its manifesto”.

My decision to wait till the morning to clarify the situation was to have all the facts in hand to avoid making further mistakes

He again insisted he had never seen the ill-fated press release issued on the night of the incident which had mistakenly said that warning shots had been fired in the air.

He hit out at the inquiry for the way in which this particular aspect was treated. He said that what he was saying could have been corroborated by at least another two people but his request to summon other witnesses had been rejected.

Dr Mallia pointed out that on several other occasions the ministry had issued statements he did not see. “This used to happen when the facts in the statement were determined by others and I did not have control on the veracity or otherwise of those facts.”

He denied claims he was next to the former acting police commissioner when the latter was on the phone with the Prime Minister’s communications coordinator, Kurt Farrugia, and his driver, Paul Sheehan.

Mr Farrugia had testified that Dr Mallia was heard instructing him to publish the statement urgently.

However, Dr Mallia noted he was attending an official dinner at the police headquarters and at no point did he go to the second floor where the control room was.

He said he did not recall being asked to issue a correction by his former communications coordinator, Ramona Attard, adding he had confirmed during the inquiry that it did happen because he wanted to give her “the benefit of the doubt”.

That indicated he never had any intention of covering up the incident because otherwise he would have issued the correction, as, in line with the cover-up thesis, he should have realised that the intended cover-up had failed, Dr Mallia wrote.

“My decision to wait till the morning to clarify the situation was to have all the facts in hand to avoid making further mistakes.”

Dr Mallia insisted he only became acquainted with his driver after he was assigned to him and denied he had ever accompanied him during house visits prior to the last general election.