‘Don’t you know who I am?’ Silvio Scerri drops case against former Culture & Arts chairman Adrian Mamo, “because he is no longer involved in business”
You really should read the story in the link below for an example of some pretty confused reasoning.
Silvio Scerri sued Adrian Mamo, then chairman of the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, for a remark he made in a work-related email sent to a couple of colleagues.
Three years later, he says he is dropping the case (after dragging Adrian up and down from court heaven knows how many times, and instituting the case in the first place) because he is “no longer involved in business” – so it doesn’t matter.
Conclusion: as chief of staff to National Security Minister Manuel Mallia, he doesn’t have a reputation to protect. He had one only in business.
As for his claims that he is no longer involved in business, what can we say? John Dalli is no longer involved in business, either. His shares and companies are all held by his daughters, and he has just the one bank account, in Brussels, where his salary was deposited, and where his retirement and transit funds will continue to be, because Brussels is still paying him.
I supposed we are expected to believe that Silvio ‘Don’t You Know Who I Am?’ Scerri retired from his lucrative business while still in his 40s, to live off a chief of staff’s salary while serving as bridesmaid to Manuel Mallia.
Just like Keith Schembri with the prime minister.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130703/local/silvio-scerri-drops-case-against-former-mcca-chairman.476433
My reading is a bit different. What Silvio Scerri appears to be hinting at is that he no longer needs to take action to protect his reputation, because his position as chief of staff is enough to protect him.
Do these people know how to spell the word HONOUR ?
Was he copied in when the email was sent?
If not, can you defame a third party in a private letter or email?
Yes.
“Mr Scerri had started the case in his capacity as a businessman after having taken offence over an e-mail sent by Mr Mamo to him, copied to then Education and Culture Minister Dolores Cristina and Finance Minister Tonio Fenech in reply to an email by Silvio Scerri to the MCCA and copied to the same ministers.” (Times of Malta)
It is possible to defame a party in a private letter or email, but one would need to consider all circumstances. In this case Silvio Scerri was copied in Mr. Mamo’s email which was a reply to correspondence initiated by Mr. Scerri.
The only way to know how the courts would have seen this would have been for Mr. Scerri to let the courts proceed with the case.
Instead, he chose to drop the case. The Times did not even report whether the content of the contested email was made public in court, and as a consequence the public has no idea what was the defamatory material.
Of course, this raises the question whether Mr. Scerri’s abandonment of the court case was intended so that the content of that email will never be made public in the courts.
As pointed out by Daphne, Mr. Scerri is in his current political position of “Don’t you know who I am” with the Minister for the Police etc etc etc presumably because of the reputation he built in his business. So if there is anything that we should know about that reputation that may be contained in that email, now we will never know it.
Thank you.
This sums it up:
Defence lawyer Joe Giglio said in court that people cannot play with court charges as they deem fit or as best suits them. (The Malta Independent)
And the present job can last 5, the most 10 years.
Or that now that he is part of the naghmlu li rridu government ‘click’, he no longer has any reputation to protect.
So what happens when some day he has to return to his business? Will he then reinstate the case?
Scerri dropped the case because it was pathetic. There was no case. “I’m no longer in business” was just his excuse…
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110126/local/mfcc-directors-accused-of-misappropriating-vat.347151