Legal title

I refer to reports that appeared in the media on July 5 about a reaction by Ian Borg, the Parliamentary Secretary for EU Funds and Malta’s Presidency of the EU in 2017, to my legitimate request to the Permanent Commission Against Corruption for a formal investigation in which he refers to me by name and alleges that I blocked or denied access to the public at a property called Is-Simblija.

Is-Simblija consists of a rural farm and agricultural property where my family and ancestors have held legal title of private possession spanning at least over the last five centuries (similar to many other farming families), giving the land its name.

I refer Borg to a right of reply which I published in Times of Malta on September 8, 2012, in reply to an article in the same paper of August 6, 2012, which had included similar allegations and reference to Borg.

Based on legal advice I had obtained at the time, I had pointed out that any claim that I or my family block, or deny access to, the said property is not only untrue and legally unsound but also defamatory because my family holds legal title on the said property, as also confirmed at the time by the courts.

Borg is a lawyer and should know well the implications of publishing defamatory material. I reserve all legal rights in this regard.