Former minister Jesmond Mugliett has lost all three libel suits he had instituted against Alfred Sant over comments the former Labour leader made during press conferences.

Mr Mugliett argued that Dr Sant’s statements were intended to cause harm to his reputation when he was minister for roads.

In the first case, the court heard that during a Labour Party activity on July 1, 2007, Dr Sant insinuated that mistakes had been made in the building of roads so that work could be carried out to the benefit of certain companies.

But Magistrate Francesco Depasquale said Dr Sant made no direct reference to Mr Mugliett. He had referred to other ministers in general and had directed his comments to the whole system run by the Transport Authority and not specifically to the minister.

In the second libel case, Mr Mugliett took offence at a speech during which Dr Sant had read out a response given by Mr Mugliett to a parliamentary question over the fate of two former Transport Authority officials found guilty of bribery.

Mr Mugliett had asked the authority not to immediately suspend the employees pending the outcome of a possible presidential pardon.

Dr Sant had made a value judgement and as such the statements were fair comment, the court ruled.

The third case was about a press conference held outside the Prime Minister’s Office in February 2008, when Mr Mugliett was accused of having a conflict of interest when it came to the building of Manuel Dimech Bridge.

Again, the magistrate found that Dr Sant had made a value judgment and that what was said constituted fair comment.