The libel case of Richard Cachia Caruana versus Alfred Briffa and Lino Cassar of 'It-Torca' was concluded yesterday Tuesday 9 February after spending a mammoth 18 years in court. The first sitting was on 19 June 1998. Editor, Mr Briffa and journalist, Mr Cassar - who passed away three years ago - were ordered by the court to pay €5,000 in total to Mr Cachia Caruana to compensate for the libelous article 'Reddiegha', and all legal charges incurred.

The court found that the article contained a number of allegations which were totally false and unfounded.  The editor had claimed that he was not guilty of any libelous action as all he had done was give column space to the journalist, who was a regular contributor to the newspaper. The journalist, on the other hand, also said he was not guilty because the plaintiff was not mentioned by name in the said article, neither was he identifiable; claiming also that, in any case, his article was not libelous. 

Mr Cachia Caruana was faxed questions on 9 January 1998 with a number questions for a feature article to be published later during the month about the purchase of a government property in London. The answers he gave included a letter from his lawyer where he denied all implications within the questions. 

The article itself was published on 1 February entitled 'Reddiegha' where the journalist spoke about the building to be used as 'Malta House' and how someone "very close to Castille and another close to Air Malta" was involved. Just before that part of the article, he had written about the plaintiff referring to him by his initials RCC. At that time, Mr Cachia Caruana was one of the Directors of Air Malta, and he was the private secretary to the Prime Minister.

There was also mention of a company set up in Hal Lija which was then "conveniently" sold to the government at the time. Mr Cachia Caruana was made the Managing Director of the company Malpro, which was established in conjunction between Air Malta and the Government in July 1993. The plaintiff also had shares in another company opened in November 1995, Malprotwo Limited. Mr Cachia Caruana eventually passed on his shared to the government in January 1996.

Although the editor presented the aforementioned defence, where all he did was give space to the article without necessarily agreeing with what was being said, the court held that Mr Briffa did hold responsibility for what was published since he was the editor at the time. 

Regarding the journalists main defence, that he had never mentioned Mr Cachia Caruana by name, the court could not accept this because, although not mentioned by full name, the initials RCC were synonymous with the plaintiff, so much so that he was potentially more know by his initials than by his full name. The court also found that the allegations made in the article were defamatory and false.
The case was presided over by Judge Joseph R. Micallef.