Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/797847
4 MATTHEW AGIUS THE developers of the land oc- cupied by the Institute of Tour- ism Studies in St Julian's, the db Group, have filed a total of 19 libel suits against Malta Independent columnist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia, for alleging cor- ruption with regard to the group and its chairman, Silvio Debono. The company was awarded a €60 million concession to develop the ITS land into a Hard Rock Hotel, a valuation that was criticized by the PN. It was subsequently revealed by MaltaToday that the PN's dep- uty leader, Mario de Marco, had been involved in negotiations on behalf of the company, and the PN demanded an Auditor General scrutiny of the Deloitte valuation and transfer. In a verbal confrontation that de- veloped between PN leader Simon Busuttil and the db Group, the group revealed it had been asked to pay the salaries of two top PN executives by issuing invoices to the party's media company. "We did not take the decision (to seek libel damages) lightly or rash- ly, and it remains one which we, as a commercial entity, would have preferred not to take," the group's CEO Arthur Gauci said in a state- ment, announcing the filing of the libel suits against Caruana Galizia, who turned her attention to the db Group shortly after it revealed it had been asked to pay the sala- ries of PN secretary-general Ro- sette Thake and party CEO Brian St John. "For weeks on end she has at- tacked, slandered and lied about our group and the people associ- ated with it without a shred of decency. She writes as if the laws which exist in any European de- mocracy to protect citizens from such abominations do not apply to her. Clearly, she thinks that we should not enjoy the benefit of these laws which protect us and our rights." Gauci said damages the group might be awarded by the courts would go to charity. The embattled blogger was only last month served with a garnish- ee order for €46,000, by economy minister Chris Cardona who sued her for libel over unverified allega- tions that he had been spotted in a German brothel. A subsequent campaign for public donations to her libel fund, led by PN candidate and radio presenter David Thake, collected well in excess of this amount. In a reaction, Caruana Galizia said the libels were a clear act of intimidation. "As we have seen from his in- volvement with both political par- ties and several politicians who he pays for services rendered, Debono has a lot of money to throw at his objective of silencing criticism of his choices, behaviour and the exceptional treatment he has got from this government, which has given him – and for a risible sum – a large piece of public land in a prime area, which he will now use for speculation on blocks of flats." Caruana Galizia will have to pay almost €12,000 to file her respons- es to the lawsuits. "Anybody else would have been intimidated into submission. But that is not going to work where I am concerned," she said, saying db Group chair- man Silvio Debono's ability to file multiple libel suits was an extreme form of harassment in and of itself. "They do not do this to protect their reputation, because their rep- utation is actually far more badly damaged by such grave acts of ag- gression against those who hold them to scrutiny and criticise their behaviour. They do it to silence criticism through fear and intimi- dation. This is consonant with the fact that we in Malta are now living in a culture of fear." She denied the accusation that she had "attacked, slandered and lied" about the men "for weeks on end", pointing out that the mat- ter became a public-interest issue only a week ago, and adding that her recent blogposts "have really bothered them because they are so close to the bone." "Debono is working hard to dam- age his own reputation in the run- up to the bond issue on which his project depends, and he doesn't need my help in doing it. Also, as Debono and his people will find when the matter finally goes to court, opinions based on facts are not lies, and nor are they libel." Caruana Galizia mocked the sug- gestion that Debono would give to charity any sum awarded in li- bel damages. "He needn't wait for that. He should give a great deal of money to charity right now, in- stead of giving it to political parties and spending it on a Maserati and an oversized yacht." magius@mediatoday.com.mt maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 MARCH 2017 News DB Group files 19 libel cases against Caruana Galizia At war: db Group chairman Silvio Debono and Daphne Caruana Galizia Minister: Busuttil must publish proof DB Group got ads for 'donations' PAUL COCKS OPPOSITION leader Simon Bu- suttil should immediately publish the invoices he said the National- ist Party's media company Media. Link issued to the db Group for an alleged €70,800 the company said were 'paid' for the PN's top ex- ecutives, tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis said yesterday. The minister yesterday charged ahead with Labour's insistence that Simon Busuttil had secured the donations in the form of a pay- ment to the party's media com- pany, from the db Group, to cover the salaries of the PN's secretary- general Rosette Thake and party CEO Brian St John. The PN has insisted it took the money in return for commercial services rendered, while the db Group has insisted it was invoiced for the payments. Simon Busuttil prompted a party financing crisis on Sunday when, during a PN fund-raiser, revealed having received an an- gry SMS from the db Group's chief executive demanding the business's donations back. Busut- til had criticised the group over a €60 million land deal to develop the ITS land at St Julian's, while learning that the db Group had used PN deputy leader Mario de Marco to negotiate parts of the concession. Upon revealing the SMS, the db Group hit back by revealing that the PN had asked it to dish out the money specifi- cally to cover the two executives' salaries. On Xarabank on Friday, PN spokesperson Marthese Portelli insisted that invoices had been issued to the db Group for ser- vices rendered and – answering questions put to her by the min- ister – said that the company was free to publish any of its invoices. But Zammit Lewis insisted yes- terday that the PN had failed to claim that the money received from the db Group had been giv- en as donations, insisting that it was in breach of Article 39 of the party financing act. Parliamentary secretary Debo- rah Schembri recalled the state- ment published by the dv Group in which it categorically denied having paid for adverts on PN media or receiving any services from the PN or any of its subsidi- ary companies. The DB Group had already challenged the PN to publish any invoices or evidence it had to show that the money was pay- ment for services received. "In this case we find ourselves ask- ing the leader of the Opposition himself what he will do next, es- pecially after people close to him have already come out to deny knowledge of the scheme or to disprove claims made by Busut- til," Schembri said.