Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1543612
7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 4 MARCH 2026 NEWS By means of an applicatlon filed in the Civil Court of Voluntary Jusdiction Section on the 23rd October 2025, Application number 973/2025 by Emmanuela sive Manuela sive Emanuela Micallef nee Azzopardi et whereby they requested that it be declared open in favour of Emmanuela sive Manuela sive Emanuela Micallef, mother of the decujus in the quota one half (1/2) undivided share and the remaining one half (1/2) undivided share in favour of Maria Victoria sive Marvic Aquilina, Stephen Micallef and Joanne sive Joann Bellia brother and sisters of the decujus in the quota of one sixth (1/6) undivided share each one of them the succession of Jason-Mark Micallef, bachelor, son of the late Joseph Micallef and Emanuela nee Azzopardi, born in Attard, Malta, resided in Marsaxlokk, Malta and died in Marsaxlokk, Malta on the 21st June 2025 aged 52 and who held identity card number 0371372(M). Wherefore, any person who believes to have an interest in the matter is hereby called upon to appear before the said Court and to bring forward his objections hereto by a minute to be filed within fifteen days from the posting of the banns and notices according to law. Registry of the Civil Court, Vołuntary Jurisdiction Section Today 27th February, 2026 Alexandra Debattista For the Registrar, Civil Court and Tribunals Evarist Bartolo must pay €5,000 in libel damages to former EU agency head THE Court of Magistrates has ordered former education minis- ter Evarist Bartolo to pay €5,000 in damages to Maria Dolores Camilleri after finding that com- ments he made in 2016 about her removal from a government agency were defamatory. In a judgment delivered on Tuesday, Magistrate Victor Ax- iak said that Bartolo's public statements suggesting Camill- eri's dismissal was linked to "le- gal issues" and taken in the inter- est of "good governance" carried a defamatory meaning and were not justified by the facts. The case stems from an inter- view published in The Malta In- dependent on 12 February 2016. At the time, Camilleri had just been terminated from her post as national coordinator of the European Union Programme Agency (EUPA), which admin- isters Erasmus+ funds, days be- fore the expiry of her six-month probation period. Asked to explain her removal, Bartolo had said there "might be legal issues involved" and that the decision was taken in the in- terest of "good governance". Camilleri subsequently filed a libel suit, arguing that the re- marks suggested criminal or fraudulent conduct and were intended to damage her reputa- tion. In her testimony, Camilleri said she was "shocked" by the com- ments. She told the court that upon taking office, she found the agency in financial difficulty, with debts of around €200,000, and had introduced measures such as management accounts, a risk register, and audit trails. Her legal team presented evi- dence that these reforms were noted positively during a Euro- pean Commission supervisory visit shortly before her dismissal. After her dismissal, Camill- eri was unable to find work of equivalent remuneration, saying that she had to accept a €23,000 salary over her previous position of €34,000. Bartolo argued that his state- ments were substantially true and based on information con- tained in an internal audit report and a fact-finding board report set up in January 2016. He said the reports referred to alleged conflicts of interest and misuse of public resources, which, in his view, justified ref- erence to governance concerns. The fact-finding board appoint- ed to analyse Camilleri's process was deemed by Camilleri as in- ept, created with the aim of find- ing fault in her operations. Camilleri said that she had been given half an hour to re- ply to four questions that were posed to her. The report pre- pared was based almost wholly on the testimony of EUPA em- ployees, including words such as "scaring the daylights of the staff". It also included the fact that a lot of employees had to resign or go out on long sick leave, Other employees had de- scribed that Camilleri used to hide behind doors to check on an employee, and another em- ployee said that he had started to take antidepressants because of her. A central issue in the proceed- ings was a magisterial inquiry conducted by then magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras into the alleged misuse of a computer. The inquiry, together with ev- idence heard in the libel case, raised questions about the relia- bility of the fact-finding board's conclusions. The court found that the board kept no official minutes and no record of who presented evidence. It also emerged that an email attributed to an employee and used to attribute responsibil- ity to Camilleri for the loss of €150,000 in EU funds had been presented in a version that omit- ted a sentence found in the orig- inal. The magistrate described this as a serious irregularity and said the report did not "do credit to those responsible for it". Applying the "single meaning" rule, the court assessed how a reasonable reader would un- derstand the words used by the minister. In the context of an agency handling substantial EU funds, the terms "legal issues" and "good governance" would be interpreted as implying mis- conduct or serious impropriety, rather than mere inefficiency, the magistrate held. The court examined the spe- cific allegations cited in the re- ports. On an alleged conflict of in- terest involving Camilleri's hus- band, it was found that she had flagged the matter to the Euro- pean Commission and her supe- riors and that mitigation meas- ures were accepted. Claims that she used public funds to pay personal traffic fines were not proven, with re- ceipts showing she had settled the fines herself. As to the alleged loss of €150,000, the court said there was no evidence of improp- er behaviour by Camilleri. It described the matter as a pro- fessional error arising from conflicting internal advice, com- pounded by the altered email presented to the board. Magistrate Axiak concluded that the "sting" of the allegations was not substantially true or jus- tified. He found that the minister had relied on the board's conclusions without further verification, de- spite having received informa- tion from Camilleri setting out her position. The court ordered Bartolo to pay Camilleri €5,000 in damages. ĦALEY XUEREB xuereb@mediatoday.com.mt Magistrates' court finds 2016 comments by the former education minister about "good governance" and "legal issues" defamatory and not substantially true Former minister Evarist Bartolo