Prisons agency ‘mistakenly’ paid Alex Dalli’s legal expenses for libels he lost against MaltaToday, Illum

The Correctional Services Agency “mistakenly” paid former director Alex Dalli’s court and legal expenses for a number of libel cases he lost against MaltaToday and Illum.

The information was tabled in parliament by Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri, who was asked by Nationalist MP Mark Anthony Sammut whether the Correctional Services Agency (CSA) or government had paid for Dalli’s expenses.

Earlier this year, Dalli lost a number of libel cases he had filed over reports on his mistreatment of inmates during his tenure at the CSA.

Dalli had sued MaltaToday and its Maltese-language sister newspaper Illum over two stories: the first about the use of a restraint chair to humiliate a particular inmate, and the second reporting a former officer’s claims that Dalli had put a handgun to the mouth of a misbehaving prisoner and threatening to shoot him.

The minister said libels are personal in nature, and therefore any associated legal costs should be footed by the person party to the case.

“I am informed that some costs had been incorrectly paid by the agency, but they have since been refunded,” Camilleri told the House.

Sammut also asked whether Dalli was removed from his post as Malta’s special representative in Libya. This part of the question remained unanswered.