The author of a book about statues used in religious processions is claiming his work was plagiarised by convicted fraudster Josef Grech.

Joseph Mary Grech filed an application in the First Hall of the Civil Court against Josef Grech and Doreen Spiteri of Dom Communications, which published the alleged plagiarised work in 2014.

He claimed that Josef Grech took advantage of the similarity of their names and published a book bearing the exact same title as his original work, Vari ta’ Malta u Għawdex, published in 1998.

Josef Grech, who had set up the Dominic Mintoff Foundation in 2012 and authored the former prime minister’s biography, has been convicted of fraud on several occasions.

In the application, signed by lawyer Emmy Bezzina, Joseph Mary Grech said Josef Grech published his book last year with the same content and 80 scanned photos from the original work.

He called on the court to rule that he was the owner of the original work and, therefore, the intellectual property and to declare that Josef Grech’s book amounted to plagiarism.

He also asked the court to order Josef Grech to pay him for the damages suffered and to remove the plagiarised book from circulation.