The Nationalist Party said Thursday the national station PBS has defied a court order not to broadcast political adverts related to the budget.
Last Monday, a court had accepted a request for a warrant of prohibitory injunction filed by the PN against the airing of a budget-related advert.
Yet, PN secretary general Michael Piccinino said Monday, PBS had blatantly continued to broadcast political adverts, which are illegal in the country except in cases when they fall under the remit of the Broadcasting Authority.
Piccinino said that the law and a court order are clear in this regard and the PBS, funded by the taxpayer, should not break the law.
In spite of the court order, from Monday onwards, PBS kept on broadcasting the propaganda, adding that even the BA on Tuesday had issued a complaint against PBS. The PN had also resorted to taking legal action again on Thursday to inform the courts that the national station was breaching the order given Monday.
The PN asked the courts to stop this blatant illegality and for the PN to be given redress.
During the press conference, the Secretary General of the Partit Nazzjonalista also refuted a false claim by the Labour Party and its media, which are suggesting that the Partit Nazzjonalista wants PBS employees to go to prison. He noted that it was PBS management, not the company's employees, who violated the Court order.
The Labour Party seems to be implying that people should break the law and ignore Court orders as if nothing happened. He reiterated that no request was made for any employee to go to prison, but rather for action to be taken due to the violation of the Court order.
The idea that we are trying to send PBS employees to prison is an absolute lie by the Labour Party, he said.
In Court, the Secretary General of the Partit Nazzjonalista was accompanied by the lawyer of the Partit Nazzjonalista, Paul Borg Olivier.