[WATCH] Private member’s bill presented to abolish garnishee orders under press law

Video is unavailable at this time.

The Nationalist Opposition has presented a private member’s bill to Speaker of the House, Anglu Farrugia, to abolish the precautionary garnishee orders affecting libel cases.

The private member’s bill was presented by shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi, flanked by MPs Clyde Puli and David Agius.

The bill, which will be taken up to the House Business Committee to set a date for the parliamentary debate in agreement with the government, proposes a minor amendment to Code for Organisation and Civil Procedure

Photo: James Bianchi/MediaToday

The proposed amendment to the Code for Organisation and Civil Procedure: "Provided further that no demand for the issue of a precautionary garnishee order may be made to secure claims arising out of the Press Act (Chp 248)."

“Although the amendment is minor, the implications towards freedom of expression are huge,” Azzopardi said, adding that never before had a politician requested a garnishee order against a journalist.

Read more: Explainer | Garnishee orders and freedom of speech

Addressing a press conference following the meeting with the Speaker, Azzopardi accused “Joseph Muscat’s pseudo-liberal government” of trying to stifle freedom of expression with a minister’s decision to request a garnishee order.

Azzopardi urged the government to vote in favour of the bill and avoid delaying the presentation of the motion to parliament.

The presentation of the private member’s bill follows the decision of Economy Minister Chris Cardona, and that of policy officer Joe Gerada, to request a €46,000 garnishee order against Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The two filed garnishee orders – which the court upheld – on four libel suits against Caruana Galizia over allegations that they had been witnessed inside a German brothel, in Velbert, when he was on government business. Cardona has denied the allegation, which is as yet unverified.

The garnishee is based on the maximum damages liable on the defamation case, which stands at €11,500.  The effect of the precautionary warrants on her assets means her bank accounts will remain frozen to that amount until the case is concluded – usually a process that can take years in the Maltese courts.

Since the order, a libel fund for Caruana Galizia was set up, raising around €70,000 in 36 hours.

Labour Party reaction

In a statement the Labour Party criticised the PN for not including the removal of criminal libel in bill they are to present.

"It will be a Labour government that decriminalises libel suits against journalists through a law that will be presented in parliament as promised in the electoral manifesto,” read the statement.

“The fact that in its motion the Opposition does not include the removal of criminal libel, as the leader of the Opposition promised 24 hours earlier, shows that the move is not the result of conviction in the cause but simply a knee-jerk reaction intended to defend a person that spreads hate among Maltese and Gozitan people.”