Eleven spectators who were injured when a supercar veered off the tracks during the 2015 Paqpaqli ghall-Istrina event have received €3.5 million in compensation, the Times of Malta has reported.

The Malta Community Chest Fund, which presided over the charity event, confirmed in a statement last night that the victims will receive compensation following legal representatives of the parties involved.

President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, who is in charge of the MCCF, said that the compensation sum is being paid by the government and by the insurance company that covered the event, but provided no details as to how much taxpayers will have to fork out.

The Times of Malta reported this morning that the total sum is at least €3.5 million and that the deal will oblige the victims drop lawsuits it had filed last year against the President, members of her staff and other people who helped organise the event.

A source told The Times that, according to a written agreement prepared by Coleiro Preca’s lawyers, the funds will be disbursed to the victims according to the level of disability they suffered as a result of the crash.

According to the newspaper, the President had originally been advised not to give in to the victims’ demands for compensation on the grounds that the Paqpaqli event wasn’t directly organised by the MCCF but that “the situation changed when things started to reflect badly on the President’s office in the court room”.

Scenes from the 2015 Paqpaqli crash

Earlier this year, Coleiro Preca told a court she didn’t have a direct role in the organisation of the Paqpaqli ghall-Istrina show and had left everything in the hands of a board led by car enthusiast Tonio Darmanin. However, President Emeritus George Abela then confirmed in court that he had assumed personal responsibility over the motorshow back when he was President of the Republic until 2014.

In her statement last night, Coleiro Preca said she hopes the compensation will provide the victims with a degree of relief.

“Her Excellency said that no amount of money could ever make up for the suffering which the victims had endured, but she hopes the compensation settlement will provide them with a modicum of relief.”

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Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]