Labour MP Davina Sammut Hili asked for protection on Wednesday after revealing that a man accused of money laundering had contacted her after she asked in parliament for an update on court exhibits that had gone missing. 

She told the House that shortly after she made her question during Question Time she was contacted by someone on parliament's landline phone and asked why she had made the question.  

Visibly shaken, the backbench MP asked Speaker Anġlu Farrugia for the protection of the House.

Farrugia said this was a clear violation of the MP's parliamentary privilege and he would ask the police to follow the case.

Hili later told Times of Malta that the caller said he was Bernard Attard, who stands accused of misappropriating €1.2 million, fraud and money laundering. He denies the charges. He told me: why did you ask that question, she said.

Earlier, when replying to Hili's question, Justice Minister Jonathan Attard said a laptop that had gone missing after being exhibited as evidence was lost but then found among other exhibits in another case. 

"Subsequently, an application was made to file that evidence under the case it is related to," Jonathan Attard said. 

It was an expert appointed by the court who lost the laptop and not a court employee, the minister said. 

The minister said he was referring to the case "The Police vs Bernard Attard".