MFSA governor Joe Brincat has sued MaltaToday editor Saviour Balzan for libel, having taken offence at what the journalist described as the former minister's 'shady past'.

Joe Brincat.

The case was instituted one week after Dr Brincat filed a judicial protest against  the chief executive of the Malta Financial Services Authority, warning him not to spend money which was not his, on golden handshakes.

Mr Balzan wrote his comments in a blog titled “The wrong fight on good governance,” where he referred to an incident in the 1980s when Dr Brincat was arrested in Italy over allegations of aiding and abetting a client in trading valuables.

The story had made the headlines at the time. However, the Court of Appeal at Catanzaro in 1994 cleared Dr Brincat of any criminal liability, stating that the alleged crime “did not subsist” and that “no smuggling had been committed.”

In a move to clear his name on the international sphere, Dr Brincat had subsequently taken his case before the European Court of Human Rights, filing an action against Italy for having been denied a hearing “within a reasonable time.”

In 1998, the ECHR returned a judgment confirming that Dr Brincat had been acquitted by the Italian court of appeal “on grounds that no smuggling had been committed.” The European court declared that Dr Brincat’s fundamental rights had been breached owing to the “excessive” time of the proceedings.

Yet Mr Balzan wrote that “had it not been for the late Guido de Marco,  who was PN justice minister at the time and enjoyed cosy relations with his Italian counterpart, Dr Brincat may well have spent years behind bars.

In a press release following the filing of the libel suit, Dr Brincat said Prof de Marco had had no influence on the Italian authorities and he had to fight for seven years to clear his name.

He also made reference to a comment in the MaltaToday blog inviting him to “speak up” about Nationalist MP Kristy Debono who in spite of being on the Gaming Authority payroll since 2013, “is never seen at the authority.”

“He [Saviour Balzan] ought to know that I have never had anything to do with gaming,” rebutted Dr Brincat, adding that Mr Balzan ought to have directed his comment against Joseph Cuschieri who “was CEO up to a year ago.”