A note Malta’s former deputy governor of the Central Bank posted in his former partner’s letterbox was a legally-binding obligation, an appeals court ruled this week.

Alfred Mifsud had pledged to give his former partner Anna Zelbst a €3,000 monthly allowance for as long as she lived with their children, first telling her “my word is enough but I will send you a signed paper” and then posting a written declaration to that effect in Ms Zelbst’s letterbox.

In that note Mr Mifsud had also declared that if the couple’s two children were to fly the nest, “the allowance will be reduced proportionately,” signing off the note by writing “This is to confirm my intention.”

Two days after that note was posted, allegations of corruption and money laundering against Mr Mifsud were published by Daphne Caruana Galizia on her blog. Relations between Mr Mifsud and Ms Zelbst quickly turned sour, particularly when it was revealed that the source of the journalist’s information had been Ms Zelbst herself.

Mr Mifsud stopped paying her the monthly allowance, prompting the woman to file a civil suit claiming that her former partner owed her €6,000 by way of the private note which he had signed following a verbal promise to that effect.

The Magistrates’ Courts had declared that this document had been an expression of its author’s intention which, however, did not amount to a legally-binding promise as envisaged by law, thereby rejecting the applicant’s claim for payment.

An appeal was filed by Ms Zelbst arguing that even if merely a promise, it was nonetheless “valid and binding” subject to the sole condition “for as long as you live with the children.”

The court of appeal, presided over by Mr Justice Anthony Ellul, observed that in a series of messages between the couple, after their relationship had irretrievably broken down, Mr Mifsud had stated “I will keep your monthly cheque whatever…..My word is enough but I will send you a signed paper.”

It was by means of this paper that Mr Mifsud had ‘of his own free will undertaken an obligation which [Ms Zelbst] had accepted.’

In the absence of a marriage between the former couple, this obligation had been intended by way of compensation for the long years devoted by Ms Zelbst to the relationship and to the upbringing of their two children, the court observed, upholding the appeal, revoking the judgment and ordering Mr Mifsud to pay the appellant €6,000.

Lawyer Albert Libreri assisted Ms Zelbst. Lawyers Pawlu Lia and Phyllis Aquilina assisted Mr Mifsud.