Ferry captain threatens minister with defamation suit

The shipmaster who made safety flaws allegations against Gozo Channel Co. said he would sue the Finance Minister for defamation unless he withdrew a statement that the captain had been sidelined for a promotion before he made his claims.

In a judicial letter, Captain Mario Grech denied he was ever interested in becoming CEO of the ferry company and he never even applied. On the contrary, the company's former chairman had offered him the job years ago but he refused, Capt. Grech said.

He called on Finance Minister Tonio Fenech to withdraw an official statement issued through the Department of Information on June 4 in which Mr Fenech pointed out that Capt. Grech had applied for the post of CEO but was not chosen.

The judicial letter is the latest in a barrage of claims and counter-claims made by the captain and the ministry. It was filed on Wednesday against the Finance Minister and the Department of Information.

In its statement, the ministry had said it could not say that Capt. Grech's failure to get the CEO position was the reason for his persistent and "unfounded" allegations but it felt it had to point out the fact.

In his judicial letter, Capt. Grech said he was surprised how a minister, who was supposed to be well informed about what took place in his ministry, stooped to making allegations that were false and senseless. Such action would have been expected from someone who used mud-slinging to hide the truth, he said.

Capt. Grech described Mr Fenech's actions as inexplic-able and his ministerial statement as defamatory. He called on him to withdraw it within 10 days or face legal action for defamation.

The case goes back to September when Capt. Grech filed a judicial protest against the ferry line claiming serious safety breaches and fraud in the promotion of a boatswain.

He also opened a lawsuit against Gozo Channel Co. contest-ing its decision to suspend him on full pay after he made the claims.

Capt. Grech's claim about the boatswain was proven in court but a board of inquiry dismissed all other allegations and made recommendations to address shortcomings which, however, it said were "not serious".

Lawyer Kevin Mompalao signed the judicial letter.