Assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s son, Matthew Caruana Galizia, said that it is “almost impossible” for him to defend a libel case in his mother’s name “unless I am in church and a box of evidence falls from heaven” during a court sitting on Monday afternoon.
Caruana Galizia was called to court in libel proceedings opened by disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat against his mother for a story she published in 2017 just months before she was assassinated.
Speaking to The Shift after the hearing, Matthew Caruana Galizia said that “defamation cases should not be inherited” given that he does not have access to the evidence and thinking his mother had in relation to the article.
Daphne Caruana Galizia’s story claimed that Egrant, a company set up in Panama, was owned by Michelle Muscat, the former prime minister’s wife. Panama is known for its lack of transparency in company structure and favourable taxation systems for offshore companies.
Magistrate Aaron Bugeja had conducted an inquiry into the allegations and found that while he could not determine who owned Egrant, Nexia BT, the company that set up the offshore structures, contained documentation of “suspicious transactions, concealed corporate relationships, and other indicators of probable money laundering and sanction evading activities”.
Following the inquiry’s conclusions, Bugeja also called for Maria Efimova, the Pilatus Bank source for Caruana Galizia’s story, to be charged with slander. Notably, he also called for the investigation of Nexia BT’s Karl Cini.
Matthew Caruana Galizia said that the case was prejudiced against him, given that he did not have access to what his mother knew or thought when publishing the story. His comments echoed those made by the Council of Europe calling the practice “unacceptable” in a 2020 report.
Press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has described the cases as an “extensive abuse” of Malta’s defamation law, with the murdered journalists’ family at one point facing almost 30 cases.
In 2019, Caoilfhionn Gallagher, an international human rights lawyer and expert in journalists’ safety and media freedom from Doughty Street Chambers had called on the British government in her role as a barrister to “condemn” the same posthumous suits, describing them as being used to silence journalists and the “chilling effect” it has on journalism in Malta.
Matthew Caruana Galizia was himself also facing libel proceedings, as Muscat sued him following the publication of a Facebook post that Caruana Galizia said: “was aimed at explaining how money laundering works”.
Of the almost 30 cases opened against the Caruana Galizia family, eight are still ongoing. Four of the remaining cases were originally opened against Daphne Caruana Galizia, with the family having no access to her original sources or thoughts given that the murdered journalist kept her sources’ confidentiality.
Matthew Caruana Galizia said that these sources “were high-level officials who would contact her”, which she would protect given that “her sense of ethics was very strong.
“She would not publish anything without solid evidence. She had a strong sense of ethics.”
How does a crook manage to bring a defamation 6 years after winning such a grand title;
https://theshiftnews.com/2019/12/27/muscat-chosen-as-2019-person-of-the-year-in-organized-crime-and-corruption/
Only in Malta.
Let’s invite him to the USA.
Maybe he will not come back for long long years?
If ‘Daphne’ loses the case, or the magistrate is made to lose it for her, nothing unexpected today, we should crowd fund for an appeal of the judgement in the European Court of Justice.
Mafia Godfather Joseph Muscat is wrongly retaliating against Matthew who was helping his Mum since Magistrate Aaron Bugeja vindicated Joseph Muscat and his wife after he had conducted a ‘blotched’ investigation on Egrant and its link to Pilatus Bank and the Azerbaijani Laundromat scheme where the incomplete and toothless report (which is riddled with many errors and omissions) happens to create an element of doubt.
Matthew’s family has unfortunately been misled by the rotten police and the failed institutions in Malta creating an obstruction of justice, which is not in the rule of law in this backward and uncivilized country. The only way the family will get justice and closure is if the TRUTH is able to be explained to the Court without fear or favour.
Total lack of decency if nothing else. The Daphne Inquiry established that the Muscat executive was politically responsible for the assassination of Matthew’s mother. The Egrant Inquiry’s recommendations that Karl Cini be investigated for perjury have been ignored although there is written proof that he knows the identity of his Egrant VIP client. Here’s another Shylock who wants his pound of flesh.
Nah! This is not like Shylock wanting his pound of flesh. It’s much worse. This is a criminal tactic used by JM and cronies in his orbit to squeeze money from innocent persons who expose the truth. With a compromised police force, utterly criminal solicitors and to a certain extent corrupt judges, they feel confident that their wrongdoing won’t be exposed. It’s not about their reputation. It is about getting a kick out of seeing their opponents humiliated. And the added bonus is that they will make a few bucks at the expense of innocent others.
The Caruana Galizias should hold the state responsible for this situation.
First, we need a state to do that, we have only a pigging society.
I have no doubt about the ethic standards of Daphne Caruana Galizia. She certainly raised her sons by the same ethic standards as she upheld to herself.
I can only agree with Matthew Caruana Galizia in regards of what he said in this article.
How unfair this is shameful
This court case can hardly be surpassed in ridiculousness.
Please also remember that Michelle Muscat did not receive a flawless acquittal on Egrant!
In my opinion, her current behavior, but also that of her husband, in the coffers of society contributes very little to believe her anything.
I can not judge, but do not exclude, that possibly the plaintiffs themselves are more deeply involved personally.
In any case, it is also shameful for Malta. Deeply shameful.
Very deeply shameful.