Labour MP awarded €3,000 damages over PN’s ‘greed’ libel

Backbencher Silvio Schembri and his wife Deandra Schembri have won a defamation case filed against the Nationalist Party, the editor of Media.Link Alex Attard and Matthew Bonett, then a journalist with In-Nazzjon.

The couple had claimed that various reports written about them had been “replete with false allegations, intended at bringing them into disrepute.”

According to the PN organ, the Schembris had been altogether “given eight jobs” with the Labour government.

The Labour MP had however argued that, at present, he was employed as full-time consultant with the Economy Ministry and he served as a part-time lecturer at the University, a post he has held since 2011. As chairman of the Responsible Gaming Foundation, Schembri does not receive any remuneration.

Apart from his MP’s honorarium, Schembri is also chairman of a parliamentary committee.

Deandra Schembri is employed with the Malta Financial and Services Authority and was appointed on two government boards - the refugee appeals board and the police board. She receives €200 per month for one board and is paid €10 an hour for the second board, according to the number of meetings held.

The court found the newspaper report dated May 6, 2014 to be libellous and defamatory and awarded the Schembris €3,000 in damages.

Lawyers Joseph Gatt and David Camilleri appeared for the Schembris.

In a statement, the Labour Party said the PN and its media had launched an attack against Schembri and his wife during the last MEP electoral campaign. Noting that Schembri’s wife was pregnant at the time, the PL said that the PN had launched itself in an aggressive attack against the Schembris. “Yet another of Simon Busuttil’s bubbles has been burst,” the PL added.