John Dalli wins €3,000 in libel damages

Social Policy Minister John Dalli was yesterday awarded €3,000 in damages after a court ruled that he had been libelled by an advert published in the newspaper l-orizzont in March, 2003.

Mr Dalli filed his writ for libel damages against Frans Ghirxi, the newspaper's editor. He claimed that he had been libelled by a number of billboards and also by an advert in l-orizzont under the caption Fejn marru l-miljuni (Where the millions went).

These adverts, said Mr Dalli, insinuated that he had been involved in some wrongdoing which had generated millions of liri. Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera pointed out that the advert showed a photograph of Mr Dalli carrying the brief case he used when presenting the budget in Parliament.

Mr Dalli was portrayed standing by the Prime Minister and with a third party who was not identified. The advert used the words "Fejn marru l-miljuni" together with references to "Daewoo", "HSBC" and "Mater Dei Hospital".

The public was aware that these three projects involved millions of liri and that there was speculation as to whether the funds paid by the government had been destined for the payment of the projects' debts.

The advert insinuated that both Mr Dalli and the Prime Minister knew that some funds had been hidden or that they had taken these funds or that the funds had been taken by some person they knew. There was no doubt that this was the message found in the advert.

The court said that while there was no doubt that Mr Ghirxi had exceeded his rights as he had libelled Mr Dalli and had attributed untrue facts to him. Mr Ghirxi was ordered to pay libel damages amounting to €3,000 to Mr Dalli.