Malta Freeport CEO and Labour Party deputy leader: I have filed two cases against the first and one against the second

Published: August 5, 2014 at 8:07pm
Labour Party deputy leader Toni Abela

Labour Party deputy leader Toni Abela

Malta Freeport Corporation CEO Aaron Farrugia

Malta Freeport Corporation CEO Aaron Farrugia

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So to keep you updated – this morning I started proceedings for libel against Malta Freeport Corporation’s chief executive officer, Aaron Farrugia, and against the Labour Party’s deputy leader, Toni Abela, who also sits in the cabinet of government.

I have filed two separate cases against Malta Freeport Corporation’s CEO, for writing explicitly – on Facebook and on Twitter – that I received Eur2.5 million in contracts from the government.

In my entire working life, I received just one minor contract from the government of Malta (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

It was 12 years ago in 2002, for communications consultancy related to Malta’s projected EU membership, over a restricted period of a few months. The contract was not secret, but public. It was tabled in parliament at the time.

There have been no contracts since and there were none before.

I have filed one case against the Labour Party’s deputy leader Toni Abela, who is registered editor of the party’s official newspaper KullHadd. That newspaper published, last Sunday, a large front-page article with my photograph beneath the headline, saying that my husband and his law partner, Andrew Borg Cardona, are shareholders in a company which received Eur2.5 million in tenders from the (previous) government.

The obvious, overt implication was that I benefited from these monies and that the company benefited because of me. But neither my husband nor his law partner, nor anybody related to or connected to us in any way, are shareholders in that company. Neither of them, still less me, stands to benefit in any way, shape or form, financially or otherwise, from those tenders.

Andrew Borg Cardona and my husband have prepared the documents for law suits against both Malta Freeport Corporation’s CEO and the deputy leader of the Labour Party, and these will be filed separately in court tomorrow morning.




19 Comments Comment

  1. matt says:

    Hope you are suing them for a large amount. They need to be taken to the cleaners.

    [Daphne – You don’t sue for a specific sum. It’s the court which decides the amount.]

  2. John B. says:

    I bet right now they’re both in some bar holding an ‘errgint meeting’ somewhere in a village kazin of tal-Labour drinking tea from the tazza making fun of your libel suits.

  3. Grace says:

    J’Alla l-Qorti tnezzahom minn dak kollu li ghandhom halli jiehdu tghallima huma u tal-partit taghhom, halli ma jibqawx jigdbu.

    Go for it, Daphne, we are all behind you.

  4. Nighthawk says:

    Malta Today reported it earlier but it seemed more like an opportunity to repeat the libel rather than to report the filing of the case.

    http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/court_and_police/41988/caruana_galizia_sues_labour_newspaper_over_25_million_contracts_story

  5. thealley says:

    Well done. Basta bil-five degrees.

  6. ciccio says:

    U dan x’jaghmel ezatt bhala CEO tal-Freeport Corporation?

    Jista’ xi hadd jilluminana?

  7. vc says:

    It serves them right – perhaps they will learn to verify facts before publishing articles with the intention to throw mud at others whilst knowing pretty well that whatever they are claiming is unfounded. Toni Abela is a lawyer and should know better.

  8. gaetano pace says:

    Wish you good luck.

  9. ciccio says:

    Isn’t Elve Aar a bit overqualified for his position, where his job is, what, counting containers?

    With his five qualifications he should at least be sitting instead of Dr. Joseph Muscat, and at most be at the helm of General Motors.

  10. Banana Republic .... again says:

    Do you still trust the courts?

  11. Spock says:

    These pigs wallowing in the national trough would just love to drag you down from your moral high ground to prove that you’re just as corrupt and greedy as they are, ghax il-qahba milli ghandha ttik.

  12. bun-seeker says:

    Perhaps now, with the dynamic new government, libel hearings will take less time.

  13. john says:

    Another clearly libellous allegation made in your regard is that your ‘editorial line’ is dictated and co-ordinated by Pieta.

    You could always slap the shitface with that one as well.

  14. zunzana says:

    I hope the court orders the newspaper il-KullHadd to give the same prominence in the front pages to its decision of your case.

  15. chico says:

    Good luck, Daphne & Peter.

    You’re on the right track.

  16. Charles P says:

    If you have your case heard by MR Wenzu Mintoff, it will make a lovely example of his impartiality (or lack thereof).

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