Labour official to sue PN media for libel

Malta Labour Party's international secretary Joe Mifsud has filed formal complaints to initiate criminal libel proceedings against three of the Nationalist Party's media branches.

Mr Mifsud filed the complaints over allegations that he was paid Lm18,000 for an irregular employment which went against European Parliament regulations.

He initiated libel proceedings against the editor of In-Nazzjon, Alex Attard, over an article which appeared on yesterday's paper and which was entitled 'MEPs Laburisti japprovaw impjieg irregolari b'salarju ta' Lm18,000 - John Attard Montalto jizvela li ttermina l-kuntratt ta' Joe Mifsud ghax kien irregolari' (Labour MEPs approve irregular employment with a salary of Lm18,000 - John Attard Montalto reveals that he terminated Joe Mifsud's contract because it was irregular).

The other two libel cases were initiated against Louiselle Vassallo as the editor of Net Television and Radio 101 which aired similar content on Wednesday.

In a statement to the media, Mr Mifsud said he had also written to the Journalists' Ethics Commission complaining about the content of the website maltarightnow.com, the editor of which is Karl Stagno Navarra.