The lawyer who accompanied police officer Paul Sheehan when he was giving a statement to the police on the Gzira shooting incident is Dr Arthur Azzopardi, a lawyer in the firm Emmanuel Mallia and Associates, the Home Affairs Minister's firm.

Minister Mallia has not practised his profession as a lawyer since he was appointed to the Cabinet in March 2013, but his legal firm still operates from its Msida offices.

Constable Sheehan, the driver of Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia, was requested by the police to give his version of events after shots were fired in the direction of a car driven by Briton Steve Morrison Smith, who had clipped the mirror of the minister's car on Wednesday evening.

Mr Sheehan was to be arraigned yesterday evening with charges of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, but in the afternoon he was taken to hospital suffering from chest pains soon after Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras, accompanied by police officers, went to Mr Sheehan's mother's house in Nicolas Cottoner Street in Gzira as part of her investigation.

A commotion ensued inside the house, sources told The Malta Independent, and an ambulance was seen on site and it took Mr Sheehan to hospital.

Police yesterday filed a court application requesting access to experts appointed as part of the magisterial inquiry to as to be able to speed up their investigation.

Later, the Prime Minister set up a board of inquiry to look into the allegations surrounding last week's incident, with particular reference to what Minister Mallia's alleged involvement was.

The board of inquiry will be led by Judge Albert Magri, and also includes judges Joseph David Camilleri and Philip Sciberras.

The inquiry is tasked to investigate the behaviour of Dr Mallia and/or other officials in connection with the incident.

According to OPM, the inquiry board will focus on determining whether there had been any wrongdoing by Dr Mallia or other officials, whether Dr Mallia intervened to cover up the incident, and any ancillary matters which may arise.

The board is tasked to present a final report to the Prime Minister within 15 days.

The board was set up wholly by the PM after Opposition leader Simon Busuttil refused to name his representative on the board saying that it is the Prime Minister's duty to do so.

The PN has been calling on the Prime Minister to remove Dr Mallia from the post of minister as his position is no longer tenable.

In the afternoon, PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami said that planned arraignment of the driver was another confirmation that Dr Mallia could not be retained as a minister.

Dr Fenech Adami said that it is only thanks to the media that were present on site soon after the incident last week that the truth has come out. Otherwise, we would still be made to believe the lie fabricated by the government when it issued a statement soon after the incident which was full of lies in an attempt to cover up the incident.

Dr Fenech Adami said that the minister was with the police commissioner at the time of the shooting.

Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi said that the police low loader was on the scene of the incident within minutes when it usually is not so fast to turn up. "In past scenarios similar to this one, the low loader takes ages to arrive at the scene and police officers at the scene of a crime have had to call up as much as six times so that a low loader is sent," he said.

"The bullet riddled car should never have been moved from the scene of the incident, even if it was blocking traffic," Dr Azzopardi said.

He also pointed out that it was so much of a cover-up that the clothes of the driver were not examined for traces of gun residue while the minister's car was not taken to the police garage to be examined for traces of gun powder residue either and was on our roads the next day which gave enough time for the car to be washed from any existing proof, referring to the residue. This, he said, is abnormal to say the least since normally, in such circumstances, such vehicles are taken to the police garage to be examined by forensic experts.

Turning to the acting police commissioner, Dr Fenech Adami said that the police commissioner has failed his first big test.