An appeals court has confirmed a tribunal’s decision to award former Allied Newspapers senior journalist Ivan Camilleri €171,000 for unjustified dismissal, on the basis that the company did not follow a proper disciplinary procedure.

The court also turned down Camilleri’s request for an additional €55,700 in compensation, agreeing with the tribunal that he was partly to blame for his dismissal.

Allied Newspapers is the publisher of Times of Malta.

Camilleri was dismissed in December 2019 after his name emerged in court testimony as the alleged source of a leak of information to Yorgen Fenech.

He was also facing allegations, first published by MaltaToday, that he shoplifted from a Naxxar supermarket.

Camilleri denied both allegations, filing an industrial dispute claiming that his termination was unfair and wrongful.

Last year, an industrial tribunal awarded him €171,000 in compensation, finding that the company’s hasty handling of the case was in breach of the collective agreement and did not follow procedure.

It attributed Camilleri with 25% responsibility for his dismissal, citing his “disrespectful attitude” towards work colleagues and third parties.

Allied Newspapers and Camilleri both appealed the decision, which was confirmed in its entirety by Judge Lawrence Mintoff on Wednesday.