Justice Minister Owen Bonnici told Parliament yesterday he had had no intention to mislead the media, MPs or the House when an answer to a PQ was sent to two newspapers weeks before its official reply was due.

The story appeared in Tuesday’s Times of Malta. Dr Bonnici was reacting to a point made by Jason Azzopardi (PN), who asked the original question and said respect to the House was not shown.

The minister said when the question arrived on his desk he answered immediately and, per normal practice, turned the answers over to the ministry official in charge, who normally submitted them close to the date of formal answering in the House.

When almost-identical sets of questions came from Malta Today and Times of Malta, he referred them to his planned answer. Dr Bonnici said that if he had given journalists to understand that the PQ had already been answered, it was not his intention. He had always sought to uphold standard practices in the House.

In the story Minister refers paper back to the future, Times of Malta reported that Dr Bonnici had scolded the newspaper for not taking notice of his reply to the PQ.

The questions were about the coordinator of the Whistleblower Act Unit, Godwin Pulis, who had stopped working at the ministry

It turned out that the reply to the PQ was due to be made in two weeks’ time, saying Mr Pulis had been asked by the Office of the President to act as her diplomatic advisor.