The Department of Information announced that Minister for Health and Energy Konrad Mizzi is filing libel proceedings against the Times of Malta with regard to its front page story today penned by Jacob Borg “Investor in Mizzi firm linked to corruption”. DOI said that the story in question is riddled with lies and outright fabrications.

The Minister took exception to the fact that his company has been linked to corruption. He stated that “the only shareholders of Hearnville Inc. are Orion Trust (New Zealand) Limited as trustees of the Rotorua Trust and that there are no other shareholders, and definitely no investors in the company as claimed by The Times of Malta. The Minister’s Panama company and New Zealand trust have no funds or bank accounts,” said DOI.

In its public statement, the state funded Department of Information is being used for Minister Mizzi’s personal backlash with the media. The DOI statement follows: “Contrary to the statements made in this article, the revelations made by ICIJ and the documentation published concerning the matter have completely vindicated the facts as freely and willingly divulged by me, and I am satisfied with the rigour and honesty that they have treated the information disclosed. It is unfortunate that the Times has not acted with the same rigour and honesty.” 

Since the DOI press release of this morning Times of Malta have removed the story from its online portal. Clearly the Minister wasn’t happy with a clarification but swiftly took legal action. This is the first libel case opened against a media house by Minister Konrad Mizzi ever since the PanamaGate scandal broke out by The Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

He had filed a libel suit against Nationalist Party deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami for comments made during a television show.