Minister Manuel Mallia's driver Peter Paul Sheehan was found guilty and fined in October 2000 for disobeying police orders.

The orders he disobeyed were given by his then superior Ray Zammit.

Mr Sheehan was also found guilty of swearing in public and committing a crime he was duty-bound to prevent during a football game at Ta'Qali.

He appealed the sentence in 2001 but a criminal appeals court turned it down.

Last night, Mr Sheehan fired two "warning shots" at a British driver allegedly involved in a hit-and-run accident involving Minister Mallia's car.

Both of the shots fired reportedly hit the Scottish driver's car.

The government said that Mr Sheehan gave chase after the driver hit Minister Mallia's car and fled the scene.

According to the government's version of events, at one point, the person driving the car tried to force the minister's car on to the wall at the Tal-Qroqq tunnels and when both cars stopped, the man came out of the car to assault the minister's driver with a glass bottle.

It was at this point that the minister's driver fired warning shots in the air, the DOI said. The man fled the scene but he was arrested some time later by members of the Rapid Intervention Unit.