The author of the book 'Vari ta' Malta u Ghawdex', Joseph Mary Grech, today filed a civil case arguing that his work has been plagiarised "word-for-word" by the founder of Fundazzjoni Duminku Mintoff, Josef Grech, who was previously convicted for fraud. 

This follows on from a judicial protest filed by Mr Grech last month.

The original book by Mr Grech was first published in 1998, by Publishers Enterprises Group (PEG) and consists of of 123 pages divided into four chapters. The content is about titular and secondary statues in churches across Malta and Gozo.

When Mr Grech was working on the second edition of his book, he discovered to his shock another publication with the same title, Vari ta' Malta u Ghawdex, published by a man having a similar name, Josef Grech, from Dom Communications Limited Malta. He argues that the content of the book was blatantly plagiarised from his own, with the information about the statues being the same and the 80 photos being scanned from his own book.

The 'plagiarised book' is also available at the Public Library and the National Library.

The author has asked for this publication to be removed from the market and that the public be informed of the plagiarism through all available media. He is also asking to be compensated for damages. 

In reply to the original judicial protest, Josef Grech claimed that the allegations of plagiarism against him are absolutely unfounded.

Mr Grech argued that the publishing rights belong to Publishers Enterprises Group and not the author, Joseph Mary Grech, and that he had asked the publishing group to reproduce parts of the book.

He added that the representative of Dom Communications Limited and Ghaqda Dom Mintoff have nothing to do with the publication, and have therefore categorically denied the allegations