Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that he would follow his predecessor’s example and remain silent in parliament on a controversial matter – in this case, the private work carried out by Parliamentary Secretary Franco Mercieca.

Mr Mercieca, an ophthalmic surgeon, was reported to have continued carrying out work in a private hospital against payment, earning €3,600 for 9 operations last Wednesday. In a statement, his office insisted that he was not breaching the waiver from the ministerial code of ethics granted to him by Dr Muscat, and that he would be phasing out his private practice – but not his unpaid work at Mater Dei – by September.

This evening, Opposition whip David Agius asked the prime minister whether he would be making a statement on the revelations, which were made by The Sunday Times of Malta.

He had made a similar request yesterday, which prompted Dr Muscat to reply that since Mr Agius sought to “copy” his previous statement – in a snide reference to the MP being caught copying during exams at university – he would do likewise and reiterate that he would deliver no statement, to the applause of government MPs.

PN leader Simon Busuttil then took a different angle, asking whether the prime minister felt that a statement was warranted given the situation.

But Dr Muscat replied that he would be following the example set by his predecessor Lawrence Gonzi, pointing out that the former prime minister had not made statements in parliament when a minister – former Finance Minister Tonio Fenech – travelled for a football match with a businessman on the latter’s private jet. Government MPs once more broke out in applause.

Dr Busuttil then asked whether Dr Muscat felt that he should imitate what he felt was wrong, prompting opposition MPs to start clapping, but received no reply from the prime minister.

Deputy speaker Censu Galea then stressed that MPs could not oblige ministers to issue declarations, before moving on to the next item on the agenda.