L-Orizzont cleared of defamation after witnesses confirm Vince Farrugia called workers 'rats'

The General Workers’ Union newspaper l-Orizzont has been cleared of defamatory libel in a case filed by former GRTU Director General Vince Farrugia.

Farrugia complained that a banner containing the phrase “Vince Farrugia ... labelled workers in precarious employment as 'rats,'” was not true.

Farrugia denied ever using such a description and said that the banner, which featured 135 times in the newspaper between January and November 2012, was insulting and defamatory in his regard.

But magistrate Francesco Depasquale, after hearing evidence, noted that Farrugia had indeed used the phrase in a meeting of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development.

During that meeting an argument about precarious employment had erupted between Farrugia and then GWU secretary general Tony Zarb.

At one point Farrugia had described workers seeking the GWU's protection as “rats.”

This had been attested to by Sonny Portelli, at the time MCESD Chairman and by Sylvia Gauci, who was the council's Executive Secretary during that period.

Farrugia did not deny using the term “rats”, but claimed that he had used it to describe importers of goods from abroad.

However the court noted that far from being corroborated, this version had been discredited by several witnesses.

In view of this, the court held that the declaration in the banners constituted "fair comment" and could not be construed as defamatory.