PBS political imbalance case must continue, PN insists

Lawyers representing the Nationalist Party have insisted in court that the Constitutional case filed by the party against the Broadcasting Authority was still relevant despite the general election now having passed, arguing that political imbalance at the national broadcaster continued to affect the PN.

The case continued today before Mr Justice Grazio Mercieca.

As the sitting began, the BA’s lawyer, Professor Ian Refalo, suggested to the court that the case was less urgent in view of the fact that the election was over.

Lawyer Paul Borg Olivier, appearing for the PN together with lawyer Francis Zammit Dimech, vociferously disagreed, arguing that the size of the electoral majority was immaterial to the issue at hand, which was unbalanced political broadcasting. The lawyer criticised the authority for “making every effort to drag out the case.”

Professor Refalo informed the court that the BA would be filing a note in the acts of the case later this week, in which it would inform the court whether it had any further evidence.

Lawyer Edward Gatt, appearing for PBS, together with lawyer Mark Vassallo, told the judge that the TV station had no further evidence from his end.

The case had also been filed against the minister under whose remit the public broadcaster fell at the time, Carmelo Abela. Although elected to Parliament, Abela was not given a ministerial post in the present cabinet. In view of this, the lawyers asked the court to modify the acts of the case to reflect this development.

The case continues on 21 April.