Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/821520
maltatoday, TUESDAY, 9 MAY 2017 News 10 Thursday TVM 20:50 Magistrate orders PN candidate's arrest after court no-show MATTHEW AGIUS A court has ordered the arrest of PN candidate Ryan Mer- cieca, after he failed to turn up for a sitting in a case where he is charged with threatening Joseph Camilleri, treasurer of the Gozo NGOs Association. In January, the Commis- sioner of Police was ordered to investigate an incident in which Camilleri was allegedly threatened by the association's secretary outside a courtroom, after testifying in a libel case against the Maltese-language newspaper, it-Torca. Camilleri had testified in li- bel proceedings filed by Ryan Mercieca, as secretary of the association, against Joseph Caruana, the editor of it-Torca, over an article alleging Mer- cieca had been "in a mess for failing to produce documents relating to the EU funds re- ceived" by the NGO associa- tion. Just minutes after the sit- ting had ended, Camilleri's lawyer, Yana Micallef Stafrace returned to the courtroom to inform the magistrate that Camilleri had just been threat- ened by Mercieca. Called back into the courtroom, Camilleri claimed that Mercieca had ap- proached him in the corridor outside the courtroom and had asked whether he had sought permission from the associa- tion to exhibit the documents in court. Camilleri said he had replied by saying that he had spoken to the association's president. Mercieca had then allegedly said "issa gejja tieghek", which loosely translates into "you'll get what's coming to you." When the case was called be- fore magistrate Joe Mifsud yes- terday, Mercieca was nowhere to be seen. The court declared Mercieca in contempt of court, fining him €350 and ordering that he be escorted to the next sitting under arrest. Mercieca's lawyer, Roberto Montalto, said he would be fil- ing an application for the revo- cation of the man's arrest and fine, explaining that his client had been misinformed about the time of the sitting because of a mistake. The court declared Mercieca in contempt of court, fining him €350 and ordering that he be escorted to the next sitting under arrest Brian Tonna denies falsifying HSBC letters of reference in libel case MATTHEW AGIUS NEXIA BT managing partner Brian Tonna has testified in a libel suit filed against Stand- ard Publications editors over reports about an HSBC inves- tigation into allegations that his company used falsified letters of reference to open bank accounts. He shed no light on why the person who first published the allegations – blogger and Malta Inde- pendent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia – was not also sued for libel. The libel was filed over two articles in the Malta Inde- pendent, one published in the Sunday newspaper on 8 May last year, titled "HSBC inves- tigation expected into alleged fraudulent documents vouch- ing for Keith Schembri and Malcolm Scerri," and another online titled "Probe expected into alleged fraudulent docu- ments," last updated on 11 May, 2016 to confirm that the documents were "authentic, not fraudulent". The bank had reportedly been asked to issue two in- formation reports on Keith Schembri and Malcolm Scer- ri, respectively the owner and general manager of Casco Ltd. Lawyer Peter Fenech, ap- pearing for the Malta Inde- pendent editors Pierre Portel- li, Stephen Calleja and David Lindsay, asked if the title im- plied that he was involved in corruption. "No," Tonna replied. He confirmed that the online article had been updated after he had issued a denial. The allegations had already been published "on a blog" some days before, the witness said. "When it appeared on that blog did you issue a denial?" Fenech asked. "No," Tonna re- plied. "Did you file for libel?" the lawyer asked in a follow- up question. "We filed no libel case," Tonna confirmed. Fenech asked about why the documents had apparently been issued from a closed branch. "This was the reason behind the whole speculation, which later the blog and newspaper decided amounted to fraud. This is why we say we were harmed. We didn't issue it from the Attard branch, the bank did. The bank admitted this in a press statement, that it was an administrative error and in another statement said that there was no fraud." Tonna had not asked why the documents had been is- sued under the wrong branch, he said, and had no idea as to whether any investigation or internal probe was carried out by the bank. HSBC had not corresponded with Tonna about the allega- tions and neither had he with them. "Karl speaks for him- self, I didn't communicate." Karl Cini, a partner at Nexia BT, did not appear in court yesterday and is understood to have previously filed an ap- plication informing the court that he would be unable to at- tend yesterday morning's sit- ting. Brian Tonna