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NEWS | Wednesday, 10 October 2007

Sant sues Gatt for criminal libel over drunkard comments

Labour leader Alfred Sant yesterday filed a report with the police over comments by Investments Minister Austin Gatt made last Sunday at the PN’s general council.
In his speech, Gatt referred to Sant as a likely candidate for a Discovery Channel programme which documents world statesmen with alcohol and drug problems.
The crude joke, which started off Gatt’s address to PN councillors, was later publicly disowned by PN secretary-general Joe Saliba on Monday on Bondiplus.
Yesterday, Sant’s lawyer Pawlu Lia filed a report at the St Julian’s police station to institute criminal libel proceedings against Gatt over “false and defamatory allegations” he made last Sunday.
Sant said Gatt had attributed facts to him which were intended at offending his honour and reputation and to expose him to public ridicule.
The maximum penalty for being found guilty of criminal libel is a three-month prison sentence.
In a statement issued yesterday afternoon, the investments ministry said the Opposition Leader had quoted Gatt’s words out of context. “The words quoted by the MLP were used in a wider context which Alfred Sant wants to ignore… since action has been taken in court, Minister Gatt will use all opportunity at law to prove there was no attempt at defaming the Labour leader.”
The ministry said Gatt’s words were stated in the context of Sant’s speech at Birzebbugia during an Independence Day rally in which the Labour leader mentioned Gonzi’s name in a mocking and lugubrious tone. The address earned notoriety for Sant’s dismal performance on the night. “It is still difficult to explain this behaviour and even Alfred Sant himself publicly described his behaviour as a failed attempt at humour,” the ministry said, pointing out that Sant’s speech had been criticised in various newspapers.
The ministry accused Labour of “gross hypocrisy” over a similar incident back in 1999 when Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami filed a police report for criminal libel proceedings on a Labour party publication authored by journalist Glenn Bedingfield. Gatt said Labour had back then claimed the prime minister wanted Bedingfield imprisoned and accused him of oppressing his freedom of expression.


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