PN leader awarded €3,000 in libel damages over 'undeclared income' article

Former Orizzont editor Sandro Mangion has been ordered to pay €3,000 in damages to Nationalist Party leader Dr. Simon Busuttil.

In a sentence handed down this morning, Magistrate Francesco Depasquale held that an article titled “Dhul mhux dikjarat” (Income not declared), published in April last year , was defamatory and constituted libel.

The offending article had alleged that the Busuttil had failed to declare that he was involved in ERCS Ltd, a company that had benefited from over €1.2 million in government contracts under the PN administration.

“However it appears that the author failed to carry out the necessary verification before reaching this conclusion,” said the court, “both in regards to the role of the plaintiff in said company as well as whether the plaintiff had received any profits.”

Busuttil holds a 33% shareholding in Gansam Holdings Limited, which in turn holds shares in ECRS Ltd. Gansam did not declare any dividends in 2011.

The court held that as Busuttil had not received any profits from Gansam Limited, much less ECRS Ltd in that year, it was not true that he had failed to fulfil his obligations as had been alleged in the article.

Had the author performed the required journalistic investigations, he would not have reached this incorrect conclusion, said the court. “It is clearly apparent that the author of the article chose not to pass on all the information to the general public, bu had only passed on the information which, on its own, could damage the plaintiff.”

The magistrate upheld Busuttil's arguments and ordered the publication to pay €3,000 in damages under the Press Act.