The following is a statement by former journalist Ivan Camilleri in response to an article titled ‘Dismissing journalist was to protect newsroom’s integrity – Allied Newspapers’

Reference is made to the statement published by the Times dated February 14, 2025, and a report published on timesofmalta.com and in print on The Times of Malta of February 15, 2025.

Your statement that “[Allied] lost this case on procedural issues” is factually incorrect.

The decision of the Industrial Tribunal, as now confirmed by the Court of Appeal, found that the dismissal was (i) procedurally flawed and (ii) substantively unfair on the merits.

As confirmed in the ruling, Allied Newspapers Limited failed to provide any evidence to support the serious allegations levelled against Camilleri. So much so, that both the Tribunal and the Court criticised Allied for trying to shift the burden of proof onto Camilleri.

Conversely, the ruling noted how evidence which corroborated Camilleri’s innocence was presented to counter both allegations.

Allied’s appeal was explicitly grounded on Allied’s argument that the Tribunal focused its decision on procedure alone. However, the Court of Appeal explicitly found that this was not true and held “...din il-Qorti ma ssibx li hemm bażi fuq xiex is-soċjetà appellanta (Allied) tilmenta li t-Tribunal ta’ piż akbar lill-aspett proċedurali milli lill-mertu proprju tal-każ li wassal għat-tkeċċija”.

Consequently, there can be no doubt that the dismissal was deemed unjust on procedure and unfair on the merits and, therefore Allied’s statement is nothing short of a blatant twist of the facts, misleading to the readers of the Times.

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that Allied is ordered to pay compensation in the sum of €171,000 by way of compensation for the unfair dismissal, including for loss of income, as well as moral and reputational damage caused to Camilleri by Allied.

Allied’s reiteration of the allegations of wrongdoing by Camilleri are defamatory and are in contempt of the findings of the Tribunal and of the Court of Appeal, in decisions which are now a res judicata.

Camilleri will not comment further and fully respects the Court’s decisions. Instead of perpetrating its wrongdoing, Allied’s Board of Directors and shareholders would better conduct a soul-searching exercise, issue a public apology to Camilleri, and take the necessary against those Allied officials who put the once respected newspaper’s reputation at stake.

Editors’ note: While we respect the court’s decision, we stand by Allied’s statement dated February 14 and the company’s decision to dismiss the journalist in order to preserve the newsroom’s integrity. There is no “public apology” to make.