The outrage that has been expressed over the move by Economy Minister Chris Cardona to freeze journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s bank accounts is fully justified. His action constitutes an abuse of power because it attacks press freedom and undermines our democracy.
It goes without saying that Cardona and his EU policy advisor Joseph Gerada had every right to sue Caruana Galizia for libel over her claim that they visited a brothel while on official business in Germany. Their request for precautionary warrants to be issued on her assets also fell within their legal rights, prematurely punitive as it may be. The court had no power to turn them down. And more may be on the way, we report today.
If other people in positions of power are tempted to follow suit in their own libel cases, the media’s role as watchdog will end
But this does not mean that the minister had the right to take such a step within the wider context of a democracy, where journalists must be able to operate freely to hold power to account. If other people in positions of power are tempted to follow suit in their own libel cases, the media’s role as watchdog will end. There is a case to be made that the law permitting the move violates the freedom of expression safeguard in the Constitution.
This makes it not a personal matter between Cardona and Caruana Galizia but a political and national issue of profound importance. The Prime Minister has yet to pronounce himself on it. If he wants to prove his democratic credentials he must admit, as he has done on a few occasions in the past, that a mistake has been made, instruct Cardona to desist, and change the law.
It is doubtful he will do so. Caruana Galizia is a hated figure within Labour, having, of course, done the government tremendous damage with her Panama revelations while also attacking Labourites at every opportunity. Cardona has justified the garnishee orders by citing her “lies concocted to spread hatred” and “break people down”. He has characterised those who defend her as “doing a disservice to journalism”.
Caruana Galizia’s brand of no-holds-barred journalism draws both condemnation and praise. She ranges from unapologetically personal and offensive to a purveyor of political insights and of key stories about politicians’ abuses.
She went with the brothel story, which is undoubtedly in the public interest, on the basis of what she said was a reliable witness, but nothing more to back it up. The level of evidence normally sought by the responsible press was missing, but equally, knowing the risk of incurring a libel suit, she showed courage in deciding to publish... for which she has been well and truly damned.
Cardona has failed to present the proof he says he has in support of his denial
On the other hand, Cardona, whose ministerial career is now at risk, has failed to present the proof he says he has in support of his denial. In the examination of who is most likely to be telling the truth, this has not helped his cause at all.
None of this matters one bit in the issue at hand. Notwithstanding his declaration that he will not pursue the same course of action in his libel suit against the PN media, Cardona has broken a fundamental principle of democracy, using a law that possibly breaches the Constitution. No wonder he has been denounced by independent journalists across the board. The backlash, which includes enough funds raised to help Caruana Galizia free her assets, has been tremendous.
With the government awash in allegations of cronyism and sleaze, and with lack of transparency and institutional inertia becoming the order of the day, democracy was already under assault. This government promised to remove criminal libel from the statute books. One of its members has now utterly betrayed the spirit of that pledge. The ball is in the Prime Minister’s court.