Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia continued to insist in court today that the assertion that he was implicated in the infamous oil procurement scandal was malicious.

He was testifying in the proceedings in connection with criminal libel he and former Labour candidate David Farrugia Sacco filed against former Nationalist Party general secretary Paul Borg Olivier during the electoral campaign. The proceedings revolve around a series of articles on PN news website maltarightnow.com which, he claimed, linked them to the oil procurement scandal.

He said the allegations were meant to cause him damage because they were made at a time when he was an electoral candidate. He specified that he had never been interrogated by the police in connection with the scandal, neither under the previous administration nor under the present one.

Dr Mallia told Magistrate Josette Demicoli that he had appealed to Dr Borg Olivier to retract the allegations but, once he had refused and more comments were added, he felt he should ­­­take action.

Dr Mallia insisted he was never directly or indirectly involved in the scandal and explained that he was simply the lawyer who the Farrugia brothers of John's Garage turned to when they were alleging that their brother (oil trader George Farrugia) was siphoning company funds.

The articles in question were reports on a press conference by then minister Tonio Fenech. He confirmed that he had not sued any other the other papers for libel and also confirmed that he had never watched Mr Fenech's press conference, even though he had addressed a reply press conference the following morning. He did not reply directly on the website.

The case continues.

Police Inspector Robert Vella is prosecuting while lawyer Joe Zammit Maempel is representing Dr Borg Olivier.