Updated | Prime Minister 'flew commercial to watch Milan game'

A meeting of the parliamentary select committee for privileges was cut short yesterday evening after MPs from both sides got engaged in a shouting match over procedures: the main bone of contention was the prime minister's lack of presence and the leader of the opposition's refusal to testify.

It now transpires - according to PN media - that Joseph Muscat was in Milan watching the Champions Leage match featuring A.C. Milan against Atletico Madrid.

Muscat is not a member of the privileges committee.

Government head of communications Kurt Farrugia said the privileges committee has met three times, for which the PM attended once when he was asked to testify.

"The Opposition leader also did not attend a session and no one raised any issue about it," Farrugia said.

Muscat, he added, flew on a commercial flight which he himself paid for and was away from the island for just over 24 hours.

"Simon Busuttil's lame efforts to create issues out of nothing show that he has nothing to tell the Maltese people," Farrugia said.

A Milan fan, Muscat saw his beloved team lose 0-1.

PN organ maltarightnow.com reports that chief of staff Keith Schembri and parliamentary secretary Edward Zammit Lewis accompanied him on the short trip. According to maltarightnow, the trio left Malta on Tuesday shortly after 8am and returned early this afternoon. Whether this information is correct has yet to be verified: Schembri was spotted by journalists at Castille on Tuesday early afternoon briefing parliamentary secretary for justice Owen Bonnici and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi ahead of a conference on electricity theft.

On his part, Keith Schembri took to Twitter to reassure he was, and will remain, a Manchester United fan:

This must be #PN biggest spin ever! All and sundry know I support @ManUtd #InMoyesWeTrust #Malta — Keith Schembri (@keithaschembri) February 20, 2014

The privileges committee met yesterday to continue investigating a breach of privilege complaint filed by the Prime Minister against the leader of the opposition, however it was cut short as PN leader Simon Busuttil refused to give evidence.  

The matter goes back to October of last year, when during a parliamentary debate Joseph Muscat asked Simon Busuttil to withdraw or substantiate an allegation he made in his regard.

Then, Busuttil had "come to the logical political conclusion" that the Prime Minister had interfered in the police investigation against John Dalli. Busuttil had argued that a series of political actions, mainly the appointment of Peter Paul Zammit as Police Commissioner and the reappointment of the team investigating the Dalli case, led him to deduce that there had been political interference in the case.

As expected the meeting turned out to be dramatic, verging on the comic, with government MPs accusing Busuttil that his refusal to give evidence stemmed from the fact that he had nothing to say.

A handful of Nationalist MPs were present in the meeting to lend their support to Busuttil who the opposition claim could end up behind bars if found guilty of breaching parliamentary privilege. However, government sources have dispelled this notion, insisting the committee is not a court.