Comments by Caruana Galizia on alleged drug dealing at Gaffarena property ‘fair comment’ - court

The court has dismissed a libel suit filed by Mark Gaffarena against journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia on allegations of the possibility that he was aware of drug dealing taking place in an illegal restaurant in Qormi.

The blog entry to which Mr Gaffarena took umbrage alleged that Antoine “Cavett” Azzopardi was dealing drugs from the Qormi restaurant, where she also wrote that this was taking place “in partnership with Marco Gaffarena, or behind his back in his property.”

Mr Gaffarena asserted that he had no interest in the private life of Mr Azzopardi, adding that he had never caught him carrying out any trafficking operations from the restaurant, which was lent to Mr Azzopardi by Mr Gaffarena.

This was said within the context of Mr Azzopardi’s previous conviction of cocaine possession in 2014, as well as a separate criminal trial related to trafficking marijuana. The fact that Mr Azzopardi had been found guilty of operating a business without the necessary permits without a valid permit was also taken into consideration.

The court observed that while Mr Gaffarena was a private citizen, his central role in a government expropriation scandal which led to the dismissal of a parliamentary secretary pushed him somewhat into the public eye.

It said that the allegations did not state that Mr Gaffarena was dealing drugs personally, but that he could have known about what was going on in his illegal restaurant. The blog post also considered that this could have been taking place without his knowledge.

In addition to this, unregulated drugs constituted a matter of public interest, the court observed, and the entire story surrounds itself around a restaurant that does not have the necessary permit to operate.

“It doesn’t appear that sufficient efforts by the competent authorities to control this have been made,” Magistrate Francesco Depasquale, presiding over the case, noted.

The fact that Mr Gaffarena took issue with the blog post is justifiable, due to the connection being made with him and illegal drugs. However, Magistrate Depasquale added, Mr Azzopardi’s history and the fact that he was being allowed to operate a business that has no permits, rent free, constituted “fair comment” by Mrs Caruana Galizia.

The courts thus declared that the comments made were not libellous.