Labour MP files second libel suit over civil service claims

Labour MP Helena Dalli has filed her second libel suit of the week, this time against finance minister Tonio Fenech.

Dalli said that speaking on Radio 101, Fenech "lied and manipulated words attributed to [her]... in line with a campaign of lies and fear by GonziPN."

Dalli is holding the Nationalist Party responsible for an anonymous leaflet mailed to mostly civil service workers claiming that a new Labour government would effect transfers for public sector workers.

In previous libel suit presented by lawyer Marc Sant, himself a Labour candidate, Dalli said that PN executive council president Marthese Portelli had admitted that the PN had mailed the leaflet, quoting the MP out of context on public sector employment.

"The PN's lies painted Dr Dalli in a bad light," the suit claims.

Dalli has also asked Principal Permanent Secretary Godwin Grima to find out how personal data for civil service workers were passed on to the PN.

"I have asked Grima whether it was acceptable to him that a political party makes use of workers' personal data for partisan aims, and how this data ended up in the PN's hands. Dr Grima has referred this case to the Information and Data Protection Commissioner to investigate."