Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was absent from the parliamentary privileges committee meeting held on Wednesday because he was in Milan to watch a Champions League football game, the Nationalist Party media is reporting.

The committee met Wednesday to discuss a breach of privileges complaint filed by Dr Muscat himself against Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil on comments made about interference in the John Dalli case.

Dr Muscat was reached at the airport this afternoon on his return by PN media journalists. On the flight back from Milan, he was accompanied by chief of staff Keith Schembri and parliamentary secretary Edward Zammit Lewis.

Wednesday’s meeting turned out to be a turbulent one as the government and opposition spokesmen crossed swords following a request made by PN’s Chris Said for the government side to formally declare no other witnesses were to be brought forward.

Deputy PM Louis Grech argued that the government has the right to present any witnesses it deemed fit. At one point, the Speaker of the House, Anglu Farrugia, who was chairing the meeting, left the room to return a few minutes later after the situation calmed down.

It has now transpired that the Prime Minister was not present for the hearing because he was at the San Siro Stadium to watch his favourite team, Milan, play against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

For the record, Milan lost 0-1.