How I wish newspapers would join the dots for their readers
On timesofmalta.com, this evening:
An action filed by a man to annul a notarial deed of compromise of litigation was dismissed by the First Hall of the Civil Court which ruled that the man’s version of events was not credible.
Joseph Borg filed his writ in 1990 in his own name and on behalf of Mark and Charles Limited. His son Eugenio and Moira Borg joined with him in the case.
The writ was filed against P & JC Ltd, TOR Ltd, Luqa Developments Co Ltd, Terry Lt, Luxury Homes Development Co Ltd, VB & Sons Ltd, B&B Property Development Co Ltd, Paola Development Co Ltd, University Heights Lt and J and V Finance and Investment Co Ltd.
In his writ Mr Borg requested the court to declare that the notarial deed of compromise he had entered into with defendants was null and void because his consent had been extorted by violence. He further requested the court to order defendants to pay him damages.
Mr Justice Joseph Zammit McKeon, however, found against Mr Borg and declared that by his own actions, Mr Borg had ratified the deed which he had claimed was null.
The facts of the case went back to the 1980s. Mr Borg told the court that Victor Balzan, Pio Camilleri and Lorry Sant (a former Labour government minister who has since died) had agreed between them to take over his land.
According to Mr Borg, when he refused to co-operate, Mr Camilleri had gone to his office and threatened to blow up his house with a bomb.
Mr Borg said that he had five court cases pending with defendants and all cases were being heard by the late Judge Joseph Herrera in the Commercial Court.
Judge Herrera had told Mr Borg to compromise the court cases by a notarial deed which, according to Mr Borg, the judge himself had dictated. When Mr Borg had refused to compromise the cases, he was beaten up by Mr Camilleri and Mr Camilleri’s brother.
It was after a bomb was placed at his home that Mr Borg agreed to sign the notarial deed of compromise. The deed was finalised on December 3, 1985.
Mr Borg added that he had immediately started to sell the property he had acquired by the deed to third parties.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Zammit McKeon pointed out that Mr Borg worked in the property business and was not a novice when it came to transferring property. He added that Mr Borg had been assisted by a lawyer on the notarial deed.
Furthermore, Mr Borg himself admitted that once the deed was signed he had immediately started to sell the property he had acquired to third parties.
As a result, Mr Borg had given effect to the deed of compromise and had ratified the said deed if it were indeed null and void.
The court concluded by dismissing Mr Borg’s writ.
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Some background reading:
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2011/09/10/a-report-from-the-days-when-malta-today-was-a-proper-newspaper/
http://archive.maltatoday.com.mt/2002/0407/report070402.html
http://archive.maltatoday.com.mt/2002/09/15/people.html
http://archive.maltatoday.com.mt/2006/05/28/top_story.html
I’m not sure the journalists themselves can see the dots they should join.
It appears Mr Justice McKeon is angling for a salary increase (among other niceties?) assuming the reds gain power and the late Judge Herrera’s son becomes justice minister.
The judge had no real option. As much as I loathe having to say it, the judge had no real choice. The plaintiff (Borg) really ratified the deed.
Ah yes, the ‘letter of the law’. Even when one is coerced to sign in a lawless time.
Again, I assume the judge will be duly compensated.
I was shocked reading this piece.
It seems clear to me that Judge Herrera was very close to Lorry Sant.
We need someone to produce a documentary on the demimonde the Herreras belong to.
The first thing we need to know from Joseph Muscat is whether he intends to keep Mepa within his own ministerial portfolio.
Holy Camorra, Batman!
Ssssh! Kev might think you’re talking to him.
What dots? Not all of us are up to scratch with the dramatis personae of the Golden Days, I’m afraid.
Surely any deal concocted by Victor Balzan, Pio Camilleri and Lorry Sant must have been above board.
What are small incentives like beatings and a bomb here and there got to do with clean deals made by and with the above characters?
And some still have the gall of even mention the word ‘corruption’ in regards to the government of the day.
One wonders how many ‘Lorry Sants’ still lurk in the shadows of the ‘progressive’ Labour Party?
“it was after a bomb was placed at his home that Mr Borg agreed to sign the notarial deed of compromise. The deed was finalised on December 3, 1985.”
An offer that he could not refuse.
You cannot blame the judge though. Surely no one could believe that Lorry Sant’s henchmen would threaten anyone.
Does anybody realise that the Victor Balzan mentioned in the Lorry Sant corruption scandal is the brother of a certain Walter Balzan, who used to be an influential official at the Income Tax Dept during those golden days, and who was eventually plucked by the late Guido Demarco into his Ministry, and eventually appointed Ambassador to Rome and currently to Greece?
There is always much more than meets the eye.
I never understood Fenech Adami’s lame excuse for not removing prescription from corruption cases, after the PN had built a whole election campaign on the institutionalised corruption of the eighties … just makes you wonder ….
Sorry, Malta. No Truth and Reconciliation Commission for you. And no justice, either.
He describes an incident which occurred in the late seventies. “A certain Portelli, who was a Lorry Sant canvasser, came up to me and said that if I did not give him a plot in the area known as Tal-Fossi the building permits which had been temporarily withheld would not be issued.
Is this Portelli Julia Farrugia’s father-in-law?
Walter Balzan went through hell and never hid the fact that he was considered the black sheep of the family because of his political views.
Ask him.
What is it they were doing in that video? Singing from the same song sheet?
Whatever hell he went through, Walter Balzan must now surely be sauntering about in the garden of Allah.
Under the PN, he served as a senior member of Guido’s secretariat, then he was dispatched to the Malta Mission at the UN in New York for around eight years, serving first as deputy and later as ambassador, then off as ambassador to Austria, Rome and now Greece.
That makes around 20 years of well-paid heaven (complete with maid and driver). He must be as placid as a heavenly cherub on his lyre by now.
It seems that Justice Mckeon did not reside in Malta in the 80s.
What interests had Judge Joseph Herrera in telling Borg to compromise the court cases by notarial deed?
It seems that only two judges were the unlucky ones.