Speaker Anġlu Farrugia has chastised Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia for not turning up, despite being in the parliament building, to answer MPs questions about two Transport Malta officers who beat up a man as he lay in the street. 

In a ruling on Wednesday, the Speaker said that he wanted to "send a clear message and emphasise" the importance of attending parliamentary sittings. 

The assault came to light when a video surfaced on Tuesday afternoon, and the matter was raised in the House as soon as it convened at 4pm. Aaron Farrugia had already been due to answer an unrelated parliamentary question. Opposition MPs complained that although the minister was in the parliamentary building, he had not entered the chamber.  Culture Minister Owen Bonnici, who had said the minister was away on official business, replied to questions instead, but could offer no details on the incident.

"Ministers should always observe the highest standards and in this case, there was an incident making headlines in the media and this was a particular issue that fell directly under the remit of the transport minister.

"That a minister answers for another happens regularly but the minister should have been in parliament. While the Speaker cannot force a minister to be in parliament,  all ministers should shoulder ministerial responsibility," the Speaker said.   

He said he believed Tuesday's issue was a "shortcoming" unless there was urgent official business involved. If so, the Chair should have been informed of the reason for the minister's absence from the country's highest institution, Farrugia said.