A former journalist was yesterday ordered to pay a former Nationalist minister €2,000 in damages after a court ruled that the contents of the book Id-Djarju ta’ Ciro Del Negro was libellous.

No evidence was produced in support of Joe Mifsud’s allegations against Louis Galea

The case was instituted by Louis Galea, who now sits on the European Court of Auditors, against Joe Mifsud, who is now a lawyer.

Mr Justice Joseph R. Micallef, sitting in the First Hall of the Civil Court, noted in his judgement that Dr Galea was a member of Parliament and had served as minister from 1987. Between 1992 and 1996 he was also Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Social Policy. For some time during that period he had also served a as Home Affairs Minister.

Prior to the publication of the book in 1997, Dr Mifsud worked as a journalist with a private radio station. Three years before, he had received an anonymous letter about the importation of illegal drugs into the country between December 1992 and October 1993.

Dr Mifsud had handed over the letter to the police for investigation and was asked not to publish anything about the letter.

The judge added that the letter had mentioned a number of people in connection with the alleged drug trafficking but had not indicated Dr Galea.

The police had subsequently arraigned a person mentioned in the letter on drug trafficking charges. In the course of the criminal proceedings, the police had produced as evidence three pages of a diary kept by Ciro Del Negro, an Italian man married to a Maltese woman. The diary was seized during a police search in Mr Del Negro’s home.

Mr Justice Micallef added that Dr Mifsud had managed to make contact with Mr Del Negro, who had moved to Italy, and interviewed him. The contents of the interview were included the book Dr Mifsud had penned.

Interventions made during political conferences in the summer of 1996 (immediately prior to the election) had referred to the importation of illegal drugs that could have been carried out by members of ministerial delegations at the time the Nationalist Party was in office.

According to the court, the ordinary reader would conclude that the drugs were imported by a member of Dr Galea’s ministerial delegation. Such a reader would also conclude that a representative of Dr Galea had been involved in a bribery scandal. This representative had been identified as Norman Bezzina who had been Dr Galea’s consultant in 1989 and who had also travelled once with Dr Galea as part of a ministerial delegation in 1991.

The allegations made in Dr Galea’s regard were libellous as the ordinary reader would conclude that he had been associated with the alleged drug trafficking. No evidence had been produced in support of such allegations by Dr Mifsud or his witnesses, the judge concluded.