Richard Cachia Caruana, Malta's former permanent representative to the EU, has been awarded €5,000 in libel damages after a court upheld a libel case against It-Torca which he instituted in 1998.

The case was passed on before several judges and put off sine die twice before judgement was finally delivered by Mr Justice Joseph R Micallef.

Mr Cachia Caruana had sued editor Alfred Briffa and contributor (now the late) Lino Cassar after it was alleged that prior to the purchase of what became Dar Malta in Brussels,somebody with inside information  joined a group which acquired the building and then sold it to the Maltese government.

The article did not mention names, but reference was made to RCC. It was also said that those involved included someone very close to Castille and another who was close to Air Malta.

Mr Cachia Caruana at the time was a member of the prime minister's secretariat and a director of Air Malta.

Mr Cachia Caruana denied the newspaper's claims.

The court rejected Mr Briffa's defence that he just provided space for the columnist. It also rejected Mr Cassar's claims that Mr Cachia Caruana was not mentioned by name.

The court said the editor was responsible for the newspaper's content and Mr Cachia Caruana could be identified.

No further defence was produce by the accused.

The court said the facts attributed to Mr Cachia Caruana did not result in any way.

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