After Freezing Journalist’s Assets, Economy Minister No Longer Wants To Clear His Name From ‘Brothelgate’
Economy Minister Chris Cardona has not filed an application to restart the libel case against Daphne Caruana Galizia for her story that he had visited a German brothel, the slain journalist’s son Matthew announced earlier today.
Taking to Facebook, Matthew Caruana Galizia explained how Cardona had allegedly left the deadline to file an application to restart his libel against Daphne – which was last Friday – pass. Now, Cardona will have to pay all of the Caruana Galizias’ legal costs, seemingly putting to an abrupt rest an intense libel case over one year in the making.
Matthew concluded his Facebook status by branding Cardona “guilty as charged: a liar, a wanker, and a scoundrel.”
It was at 11.45pm on January 30th of last year that Daphne Caruana Galizia began giving a live commentary of Cardona’s alleged presence at FKK Acapulco, a brothel in the German town of Velbert, near Düsseldorf. She had even claimed that Cardona had a threesome with a consultant to his ministry Joe Gerada, while the two were on a state visit representing Malta’s EU Presidency. Caruana Galizia said she had a source at the brothel who recognised the minister.
The minister had denied the claims, sued Caruana Galizia and had even demanded her assets be frozen until the court case was decided – a situation that persisted until the day she died.
Earlier this year, the Caruana Galizia family had urged Cardona not to drop the libel case, implying that he was planning to do so. Cardona had refuted the idea that he was planning to drop the case or delay it further.
On Thursday 31st May, however, the case was cancelled when the defendant’s lawyer requested the court to liberate Daphne Cardona’s heirs from the accusations against them. This happened when, because of “government work commitments that precluded him from attending,” Cardona had failed to be present in court.
One more libel case against Daphne Caruana Galizia related to Brothelgate remains, this time in the name of the Minister’s consultant Joe Gerada.
Lovin Malta reached out to Dr. Cardona’s ministry for a comment, but have yet to receive one at the time of publishing.
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