Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant has been ordered to pay €1,000 in libel damages after a court ruled that parts of a speech he made in Tarxien on 10 June 2005, and reported in the media, were libellous to Professor Joe Cannataci, previously Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Malta Centre for Restoration (MCR).
Prof Cannataci had felt libelled by remarks made by Dr Sant that he had misappropriated funds given by the European Union for the purposes of restoration and instead used them for salaries, benefits and travel.
Prof Cannataci told the court that in June 2005 he was Head of the Law and Information Technology Research Unit at the University of Malta and that in the period May 1999 to March 2005 he had served two three year terms as Chairman of the Board of Governors of MCR as appointed by the Council of the University of Malta. During the period 2002- March 2005 he was also Project Director of the EU-supported IKONOS project which he himself had designed.
During all of this period there was no occasion when the European Commission had given funds to the Malta Centre for Restoration for the purposes of restoration works. On the other hand, the MCR had received funds from the European Commission for the IKONOS project which was aimed at developing distance-learning around the Mediterranean.
In this project there were funds clearly allocated for personnel salaries, travel and other costs associated with carrying out the project across eight different countries and the funds were spent in accordance with the budget headings contracted with the European Commission and as verified by MCR’s auditors and the European Commission’s own auditors. The IKONOS project had been doing well under his management and three days before he stepped down as Project Director at the end of his term as MCR Chairman he had received formal notice of approval by the European Commission of extension of the project duration.
Professor Cannataci’s testimony was corroborated by members of the MCR management. Dr Sant did not produce any evidence in this case even though the Magistrate gave him extra time to do so and postponed giving a decision in order to allow such extra time.
Magistrate Apap Bologna considered that the allegation made by Dr Sant was a serious one which, had it been true, would have constituted criminal behaviour by Prof Cannataci. Instead, on the basis of all the evidence produced, the Magistrate declared the allegations by Dr Sant to be false and unfounded.
He therefore found in favour of Prof Cannataci and ordered Dr Sant to pay him €1,000 in libel damages.