The chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando has been ordered to pay €1,000 in damages to lawyers Andrew Borg Cardona and Peter Caruana Galizia after a court ruled that a Facebook post he uploaded a shortly before the 2013 election was libellous.

Dr Pullicino Orlando, then an independent MP, had written: “columnist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia's husband, Peter Caruana Galizia and consultant and columnist Andrew Borg Cardona, receive a contract of €542,280 for the services of their company, from the General Contracts Department, just two weeks before the general election."

Dr Caruana Galizia and Dr Borg Cardona had denied the claim and sued for libel.

The court, presided by Magistrate Francesco Depasquale, found that the contract had actually been awarded to a company called Evolve Ltd. The lawyers were involved in another company, BCGL Services Ltd, which had a minority stake in Evolve Ltd as a fiduciary services company. Dr Caruana Galizia was listed as secretary of Evolve Ltd for administrative purposes but he was in no way involved in how the company was run.

The Magistrate said it had been proved that the lawyers were not the ones who were awarded the government contract. It also noted that Dr Pullicino Orlando had since removed the comment from Facebook.

The court rejected the former MP’s argument that his was a political comment. The court said the lawyers were not politicians while noting that the freedom of expression did not give the right to tarnish anyone’s reputation.