Allegations of corruption made about the handling of the multi-million euro Tigné project were fair comment, a magistrate has ruled.
The allegations were made by former Azzjoni Nazzjonali leader Josie Muscat on the television show Bondi+ in February 2008.
Pointing out a number of shortcomings, he had called the project a case of “blatant corruption”.
Midi plc, the company that won the contract to develop the Tigné area, claimed the allegation was defamatory and instituted libel proceedings against Dr Muscat.
During the programme Dr Muscat had described as scandalous Midi’s failure to build a breakwater and a yacht marina, restore historic elements on the site and pay stamp duty. Also, the original brief in the site plan was to have two storey buildings yet the development had gone up to 14.
Dr Muscat told the court in his testimony that in making those comments he was in no way referring to Midi but to the way the project had been handled and to the negotiations. And neither was this in the financial sense.
In considering the evidence, Magistrate Depasquale noted that although the word corruption was commonly associated with the taking of money, it had other meanings too.
He recalled that the non-executive director of Midi plc, Albert Mizzi, had expressed something similar when he had told an interviewer he thought that all politicians were corrupt – not in the financial sense but in the sense of being dishonest.
The magistrate also pointed out that the allegations made by Dr Muscat – about the building being far higher than originally planned, the yacht marina’s failure to materialise, the breakwater not being built and the stamp duty not being paid – were not contradicted by the evidence produced in court.
It was clear Dr Muscat was not referring to Midi as being involved in corruption but to the political parties, which had representatives on the planning authority, for the way they conducted themselves in discussions and negotiations on the project.
Magistrate Depasquale said he felt Dr Muscat did not want to defame anyone but to express his political opinion on the way the Tigné project was handled.