Silvio Scerri sues In-Nazzjon over Sheehan reports

The former chief of staff of former minister Manuel Mallia, Silvio Scerri, is suing PN organ In-Nazzjon for defamatory libel, after it published an article titled “Paul Sheehan ‘made to lie about shots in the air’”, claiming that he advised the ministerial driver to lie to police on the scene of the November shooting incident.


The libel suit, filed this morning against Alexander Attard – editor of the newspaper in question – claimed that the allegations were spurious and intended to hurt his reputation, requesting the court to declare the article containing the allegations as defamatory and to liquidate damages accordingly.


The article, written by journalist Joe Mikallef, alleged that in a telephone conversation immediately after he allegedly fired shots at a civilian vehicle that had clipped the ministerial car’s side mirror, “a person who spoke to Constable Sheehan instructed him to tell the police that he had fired two warning shots in the air and never to say that he had aimed at the other vehicle.”


The article claimed that “high-level sources in government” informed the newspaper that the person who gave those instructions to Sheehan was Silvio Scerri, chief of staff in Mallia’s ministry. 


Scerri had denied the allegations, and when contacted by MaltaToday he had said: “I did not call Sheehan. I do not even have his number as I hardly know him.”