Court will not investigate The Shift's perjury allegation

A court has abstained from deciding a request by journalist Caroline Muscat to examine the official court transcript of testimony by MaltaToday managing editor Saviour Balzan for alleged perjury.

The application refers to Balzan’s testimony in a libel suit filed by her brother, John Muscat, against Malta Today and sister newspaper Illum in October 2018.

In her application, Muscat referred to a piece published on MaltaToday’s news portal where Balzan was quoted as saying that The Shift news had published leaks from investigations into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination.  The news report further quotes Balzan stating that Muscat’s brother was the source of the leaks.

In her court application, Muscat said that Balzan’s allegations were “an absolute lie”, offering to confirm under oath that there was no article or publication on The Shift News that came from, or made use of, any leaks alleged by Balzan.

Magistrate Rachel Montebello, in a decree handed down today, abstained from deciding on the request, saying that as a third party, extraneous to the case, Muscat had no locus standi – that is the right to make the request before the court.

The court said that Muscat, “if she felt that she had a right of action against one of the parties to this case, should proceed directly through an ad hoc action or to address her complaint to the competent authorities…if she is alleging that someone committed perjury in her regard, it certainly is not this court in these proceedings that should investigate the truth or otherwise of this allegation.”