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Matthew Vella
It has been a nasty throwback to the 80s this week for Josie Muscat, the former Nationalist MP whose court order to pay over Lm4,465 in damages was on Friday confirmed by the Court of Appeal.
Muscat was ordered to pay John Cordina, the owner of Corrigo Hall in Zabbar, after the Commissioner of Police suspended Cordina’s commercial licence back in 1983 when Muscat broadcasted a recording of a football match without being covered by the necessary entertainment permits.
Cordina claimed damages from Muscat a decade later when he took up civil action in 1993, after the former MP paid both his fines and loaned him money for the time during which Corrigo Hall was kept closed.
Muscat told the Court of Appeal he was not responsible for the “high-handed actions of a regime” referring to the Labour government of the time “which had abusively, and without jurisdictional decree” closed Corrigo Hall for a period of time. He said Corrigo Hall was a case of gross abuse by the Labour government for which he had no responsibility.
The police had swooped upon a tea party organised by a committee of the MP’s supporters after Muscat broadcast a video recording of a football match to the invitees. The police ordered the closure of the outlet, revoking Cordina’s licence to operate the outlet and even proceeding against him criminally.
Although the courts liberated Cordina from all accusations, he was fined repeatedly for breaking the Entertainments Tax Act – all of which were in fact paid by Josie Muscat himself.
Muscat also lent money to Cordina in the months during which Corrigo Hall was kept closed by the police authorities.
The first court said the fact Cordina was accepting sums of money from the MP during the time in which Corrigo Hall was kept closed, did not mean Cordina had lost the right to claim damages against Muscat.
It decided that since Muscat had rented the hall, he was still responsible to take care of the place and to not incur any damages from Cordina. Asserting that he had taken responsibility for the event during the criminal procedures against Cordina, Muscat could not claim that he was not personally responsible for the event because it had been organised by a committee of “friends of Josie Muscat”.
The Court of Appeal later reiterated that Muscat had evidently shown his direct responsibility for what happened, not just by organising the event personally, but by paying the fines imposed upon Corrigo Hall.
Finding no evidence suggesting any abusive or illegal action from the police, as alleged by the former Nationalist MP, the Court of Appeal said that since Cordina had not been found guilty of the illegal broadcast it was clear there was blame attributable to Muscat, whose actions caused financial loss for Cordina.
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
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