Franco Debono's €700 fine for contempt of court confirmed on appeal

Franco Debono has lost an appeal over a case which was being heard by the Commission for the Administration of Justice concerning contempt of court.

Illum reported on Sunday that, according to its sources, the Law Commissioner and former Nationalist Party MP had in March lost an appeal about a case dating back to eight year ago, when the Commission had fined him €700 after he was found to have been in contempt of court.

The case involved an argument which Debono had had in 2011 with a magistrate’s assistant, after he had called to ask that a case which was meant to be heard that day be deferred because he was unwell. The discussion between the two reportedly involved a harsh exchange of words.

To this day, Debono strenuously denies that he was in contempt of court.

The newspaper said the lawyer, when asked, also refused to confirm whether he had lost the appeal. “It is not true and I don’t want to comment. I remind you that that procedures taking place before the Commission for the Administration of Justice are confidential,” Debono said.

“Anyone who leaks information coming from the Commission is leaving all its members open to damages."

During an outburst in February, Debono had said that the Panama company Egrant belonged to the Prime Minister or someone close to him.

READ ALSO: Franco Debono speaks out: Muscat’s slight, Pawlu Lia’s ‘cruelty’, and the Constitutional Convention

At the time, he also had harsh words for Joseph Muscat’s lawyer, Pawlu Lia who is prosecuting the Egrant libel suit, and also sits on the Commission for the Administration of Justice. In comments to MaltaToday, Debono had emphatically said that he had “never met such a cruel person” as Lia.

“Lia once told me his golden rule – that when he is aggrieved by someone, he makes sure to pay them back,” he had said.