Appeals decision on Jumbo Lido libel challenged in Constitutional court

A court heard how MaltaToday’s managing editor Saviour Balzan broke with tradition and personally took upon full legal responsibility for all publications and media originating at MediaToday, to allow his journalists to investigate and report without fear of being financially penalized if sued for libel.

Balzan was testifying before Madam Justice Anna Felice in a constitutional case which he filed against the Attorney General after being ordered to pay a total of €18,000 in libel damages and €9,000 in legal fees to lawyer and well-known PN activist Peter Fenech.

“As a result of the harsh decision, I decided to personally part with tradition and take full legal responsibility for all publications at MediaToday, to avoid unnecessary pressure on journalists,” Balzan said.

Fenech was aggrieved by a series of articles carried by this newspaper which investigated how then home affairs minister Tonio Borg had waived outstanding dues on a government lease held by VAB Company Ltd on the former Jumbo Lido, in Tigné.

The articles showed how Borg had waived Lm100,000 (€240,000) in rents due from VAB Company Ltd – a company in which Fenech and his father held a directorship – because the company “had no other assets from which to pay the arrears”.

Balzan pointed out that at the same time that Fenech had declared that VAB limited had no funds, the same company had won a similar amount in rental fees from a person who had leased the Jumbo Lido from VAB limited.

“VAB limited had no right to sub-lease but this did not bother the government,” he explained.

Balzan informed the court that Peter Fenech was a politically-appointed person who had, at the same time, also sued Miriam Dalli, then One News editor for libel, on the grounds that she had alleged that the decision to waive the government’s dues took place due to the intervention of prime minister Lawrence Gonzi.

“We never speculated nor insinuated that Prime Minister Dr Gonzi was involved. James Debono was faithful in his reporting and very precise.”

 The court was told that Fenech had also won the libel case against One and was awarded €2,500. “This contrasted with the €18,000 awarded in the case against MaltaToday,” Balzan said, pointing out that while he could sense inaccuracies in the One News report, he could not say the same thing for the MaltaToday report. 

“What I can say, is that the decision was taken by the same court and magistrate.”

Balzan explained that Fenech would avoid answering calls and questions from this newspaper but nevertheless James Debono had sent him three separate emails; and that this contrasted this with One news, who had not even asked one question.

“We felt obliged to refer to Peter Fenech in the article for three reasons: firstly because he was a public figure and a political appointee who benefitted, together with his wife, from various political appointments when he was a close collaborator of former minister Louis Galea - a point of view which the first sentence contested; secondly, because he was a director, shareholder and company secretary of VAB Company Ltd; and thirdly because he was the person who had negotiated for VAB Limited with the Lands Department and also represented VAB when claiming unpaid for the third party use of Jumbo Lido .”

“We felt that the circumstances merited a investigative story as it was not normal for the Lands Department to waive unpaid rent when the same company was claiming third party’s rent for an amount higher than that owed to government.”

Balzan presented a reply to the story issued by Joe Azzopardi, then PRO to Tonio Borg, the home affairs minister at the time, in which Azzopardi had claimed that the government was unaware that VAB was concurrently claiming €138,000 in rents from the third party that was renting Jumbo Lido and with whom VAB had a management agreement, when it waived the rents due from VAB.

Fenech was a director, shareholder and company secretary of VAB Company Ltd. Fenech’s father Frank was another shareholder. Peter Fenech also legally represented VAB in a case for claims of Lm138,385.48 or €320,160 from Marisa Turk Dogan, who had been sub-leased the Jumbo Lido from VAB.

The case will continue on the 27th May.