Engerer withdraws candidature, ‘I’m doing it for the good of the party’

Labour MEP candidate Cyrus Engerer has withdrawn from the European Parliament elections race after a court of appeal yesterday convicted him to a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years.

With just 15 days to go to the MEP elections, Engerer yesterday informed Prime Minister and Labour leader Joseph Muscat of his decision.

“I don’t want in any way to cast any shadows on the Labour Party or the Prime Minister and I don’t want this unjust decision against me to affect the party,” Engerer said.

Engerer, who defected to the PL in 2011, faced charges accusing him of keeping and/or circulating pornography and computer misuse. The report against him was filed in 2009 but charges were issued a few days after his defection. During the same time, his father had his premises raided by policemen in plain clothes and accused him of drug possession.

“What I endured was the result of my decision to join the Labour movement. Everyone can understand the true motives behind the persecution of myself and my family. This can also be derived from a conclusion of an inquiry ordered by former minister Carmel Mifsud Bonnici,” he said in a statement.

Engerer added that he decided to withdraw his candidature because he “always believed politicians should always lead by example and shoulder responsibility when the situation demands so”.

“I remain committed to helping the Labour Party with these elections,” he said.

Because of changes to the law, Engerer could still have contested the EP elections.

The court yesterday said it was satisfied that the prosecution had proven that Engerer had disseminated compromising pictures on the internet of a former boyfriend of his. Engerer was ordered not to communicate with his victim or the victim’s family for one year. 

The first court had acquitted Engerer in 2013 but the decision was overturned on appeal. 

The decision was handed down by Mr Justice Michael Mallia in a 17-page appeals court judgment.

The PN yesterday claimed the court sentence was “clear proof of Joseph Muscat’s political immaturity in accepting inside his party a person facing such serious charges, just to score a political goal”.

Engerer ditched the PN when still deputy mayor of the Sliema local council, in protest at Lawrence Gonzi’s opposition to divorce, in the run-up to the referendum campaign. 

At the time of the charges, filed after a 2009 police report made by Engerer’s former boyfriend, the PN did not take any disciplinary steps against the Sliema councillor. In fact, Engerer was appointed Sliema deputy mayor after his predecessor was elected mayor in the wake of the departure of former Nationalist mayor Nikki Dimech, on suspicion of charges relating to misappropriation of funds.