Four members of Mooring Services Ltd yesterday filed a judicial protest against the chairman of the Malta Maritime Authority, claiming that he had made untrue allegations about them in a local newspaper.

Stephen Borg, Anthony Farrugia, Victor Mizzi and Lawrence Attard made reference to an interview with the MMA’s chairman published on the Sunday Times of Malta in which he said that the complainants had an income of some Lm19,000 per year.

The complainants said that not only was this untrue, such data was protected by law and should not have been divulged.

They claimed that they believed there are ulterior motives and that the MMA’s intention was solely to engage the services of a private contractor which would obviously cause them damages. The complainants said they held the MMA chairman responsible for any damages they have incurred and appealed for him to retract the allegations made in their regard. Dr Jose Herrera signed the protest.