Privilege complaint by Alfred Sant: Efforts being made to resolve the issue

The legal counsel of Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt and former Opposition leader Alfred Sant plan to meet to find a solution to a breach of privilege complaint currently being heard by the House Privileges Committee.

Dr Sant raised the complaint in October when he denied claims made by Dr Gatt in Parliament that he had information about the MITTS hacking case and had tried to spin the story to MaltaToday to mislead investigations.

In its first meeting last month, the committee requested a ruling from the Speaker as to whether Dr Sant, as the complainant, should be allowed legal aid. Dr Galea said he would seek the Attorney General’s advice before giving a ruling.

In his ruling today, Dr Galea said that a Member of the House against whom a breach of privilege had allegedly been made should be entitled to legal assistance under a number of conditions. These included that the legal assistance should be given by just one lawyer. If more than one MP complained about substantially the same case, they should agree between them on who to appoint to represent them.

Moreover, the complainants were expected to give replies themselves and not through their lawyer.

Giving evidence this evening, Dr Sant insisted that it was not true that he had spun the MaltaToday story and he never intended to hinder police investigations, as the minister had claimed in Parliament on October 14. He said he strongly objected to the minister's claim and since the claim had made in the House, he had no option but to make the privilege complaint.

Leader of the House Tonio Borg said that in the MaltaToday report, Dr Sant had said that the hacking had been going on for two years.

Dr Sant tabled a copy of all the e-mail correspondence that had taken place between him and MaltaToday. He said that that was the only correspondence that had taken place between him and the newspaper. This case was not, however, about what MaltaToday had said but on the minister’s claims.

Asked by Dr Gatt whether he had denied any of MaltaToday’s stories, Dr Sant said he did not, according to a decision he took a year ago not to deny any allegations made about him in the press.

The sitting of the committee then continued behind closed doors so that an effort could be made to find a solution to the case. The next sitting will be held on January 28. In the meantime, the legal representatives of both parties will meet to explore possible solutions.