Carmelo Abela’s aspirations of returning to cabinet have received an unlikely endorsement from an Opposition MP.

Claudette Buttigieg said on Saturday that Abela deserved to be returned to cabinet after winning a libel case over allegations linking him to a botched bank hold-up.

“These are the politicians we need in ministerial positions,” Buttigieg, who represents the Nationalist Party, said in a radio discussion with Abela on Saturday.

“I am very sorry for Carmelo, he knows I respect him,” Buttigieg said of Abela’s court troubles. “I hope the appeal goes his way.”

Abela had sued lawyer Jason Azzopardi after the latter alleged on Facebook that the former minister had helped criminals who tried to rob an HSBC bank branch in Qormi in 2010. Abela worked for the bank at the time.

When Azzopardi made the claims, Abela was a minister. He was kept out of cabinet following the 2022 general election.

A court ruled in Abela’s favour last September and ordered Azzopardi to pay him €7,000 in damages. Azzopardi, a former PN MP, subsequently filed an appeal against that judgment. The appeal is still pending.

Speaking on RTK103 on Saturday, PN MP Buttigieg said she was happy Abela won the court case.

“He was put aside because of what happened; now it’s about time… these are the sorts of politicians we need in ministerial positions,” she said.

Speaking just weeks before Abela’s libel victory, outgoing Labour president Ramona Attard had said that removing criminal libel laws was a mistake. Attard has since been co-opted into parliament.

Abela told radio show host Andrew Azzopardi that reintroducing criminal libel – or dramatically increasing civil penalties for libel – would not solve the root problem.

“We can disagree, and do so vehemently, but there is no need to defame the other. Having criminal libel or a deterrent that runs into the hundreds of thousands of euro… if the damage has been done, it is done irrespective of the compensation,” he said.

Buttigieg: 'Karol did not laugh'

The Labour MP also spoke about an emotional moment he had in parliament following that libel judgment.

In a parliamentary speech that went viral, Abela broke down in tears as he spoke about the impact the case had on his family.

“I didn’t expect to be so emotional,” he said on Saturday. “I was speaking about my family, pictured my children and was taken aback.”

PN MP Buttigieg said she would most likely have done the same thing had she been in Abela’s situation.

“It’s not a sign of weakness to show your emotions,” she said.

Buttigieg also categorically denied claims, made by the Labour Party, that PN MP Karol Aquilina had laughed when Abela teared up.

“No, no, no,” she said. “I was next to him. Karol did not laugh.”