A magistrate threw out a libel suit filed by Green MT against L-Orizzont over an article terming a €2,000 cash grant offered to local councils as “bait”.

The article, appeared in November 2012 and referred to a waste collection scheme rolled out by Green MT where €2,000 in cash grants was being offered to local councils to encourage their participation.

Green MT took issue with the term

Green MT took issue with the term “bait”, arguing the cash grant would be paid against an invoice from the local council and “no one would personally take the cash”.

Magistrate Francesco Depas-quale noted that the act of offering money to encourage parties to join the scheme was not contested and there was therefore nothing wrong with calling the scheme “bait”, since the term indicated an action intended to encourage someone to do something. The court did not find anything defamatory or libellous in the use of such a word and therefore dismissed the case.