Where he wants, Joe Zammit Maempel states that the testimony given by criminals is valid, but when it suits him, he debates the opposite and declares that their testimony is not valid 

The Church’s digital media outlet, Newsbook, gave air time to what was said in court in the libel case brought by Labour deputy Carmelo Abela against Jason Azzopardi. Carmelo Abela felt injured when Azzopardi said that Carmelo Abela was implicated in the foiled criminal heist against HSBC bank in 2010, and thus, he is suing Azzopardi for defamation. Last Friday, there was a sitting during which a request was made for the testimony to be given by the brothers Degiorgio. Suddenly, the Degiorgio Brothers are no longer despicable criminals who should not be granted a presidential pardon because their testimony cannot be relied upon. Suddenly, the same individuals who, until a short while ago, said that the Degiorgios were not credible started supporting Jason Azzopardi’s claim. The church media gave them a supporting hand and discussed what they said in Court about Carmelo Abela.

Thus, while Jason Azzopardi’s case is ongoing, he goes to the Church media station to talk about this case and other issues. I hope that Curia will not come out with a press release stating this is false. Azzopardi resorts to the Curia media to attack the Labour deputy Carmelo Abela, one of the Catholic deputies on the Labour side. There is no journalistic problem with the Church media discussing a sub-judice case. The most important thing for the Church Curia is that Carmelo Abela was also invited to the programme. In the process, the Curia gave Jason Azzopardi a helping hand in this case against Carmelo Abela! One has to read how this story was reported in Newsbook to perceive the Church’s bias against Carmelo Abela. And then, if this site speaks about the friendship between Azzopardi and Curia, the same Curia gets so irritated to issue press releases stating that this is not true.

The truth is that whenever Jason Azzopardi’s interests are at stake, the Curia sees no problem with the rule of law. For the Curia of Archbishop Scicluna, this media attack against Carmelo Abela was conducted according to Curia’s code of ethics. A press release that the Curia issued against this site stated that it has formed a code of ethics to help journalists fulfil their function more diligently. The truth is that whenever this site writes about any mess involving Jason Azzopardi, Scicluna’s Curia forks out press releases to tell the faithful not to take what is being written thoughtfully. Unfortunately for the Curia, very few are now believing or interested in what the bishops have to say.

To crown it all, there is the fact that Jason Azzopardi is being assisted by Joe Zammit Maempel in this case against Carmelo Abela. Zammit Maempel’s son is a legal consultant for the Church media. Whether he still is or not, I am not sure. However, what is certain is that he was part of the Church media’s apart to the extent that when I revealed this fact, the Curia threatened me with libel for exposing the truth.

What is even more important is that suddenly, the testimony of the brothers DeGiorgio is valid for Jason and his lawyer. They are no longer criminals who have no right to a presidential pardon, as Jason Azzopardi had argued until some time ago or that their testimony should not be considered credible.

After all, I say this because I, too, have a libel case. Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi started this case against me. As a lawyer, Arthur Azzopardi is often in court with Jason Azzopardi, defending the same client. Arthur Azzopardi instituted this libel case against me because his name was mentioned in connection with the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia during the compilation of evidence against the Degiorgio brothers, and I had spoken about it. According to what their lawyer was back then, Arthur Azzopardi’s name was mentioned by an individual who belonged to the same category as the Degiorgio brothers. If I am not mistaken, lawyer Kris Busietta, who is a partner with Jason Azzopardi in the same legal firm, is appearing for this individual, who mentioned the involvement of Arthur Azzopardi in Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder.

In this libel case against me, Arthur Azzopardi appointed Joe Zammit Maempel to assist him. During one of the sittings, I was asked by Joe Zammit Maemple how can I believe and quote what a charlatan says (or something similar). Zammit Maempel said this about the person who had claimed that Arthur Azzopardi was involved in Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder. Thus, according to Zammit Maempel, I should not have quoted what a person with a presumably criminal record was saying about Arthur Azzopardi. In truth, I did not quote this person. I mentioned what the lawyer of the Degiorgio brothers had said in court about Arthur Azzopardi during the compilation of evidence against the Degiorgio brothers. However, the same lawyer is stating diametrically the opposition in my case to what he had said in Jason Azzopardi’s case. In my case, what a criminal declares is not valid in court. But when criminals state what music is to Jason Azzopardi’s ears, they are even quoted by the Curia station!

In the game of blame in Malta, the validity of a legal argument depends only on who the individual is. In this ugly game of tort, the Curia’s station contributes and uses Jason Azzopardi to advise Carmelo Abela on what he should have done when the Degiorgio brothers allegedly referred to him. According to Jason Azzopardi, Abela should have reported them to the police. However, when Arthur Azzopardi’s name was mentioned in Court in connection with the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Arthur Azzopardi did not institute a libel case against the lawyer who had mentioned his name in Court nor even reported the case to the police!

This is what the Church media Newsbook reported about what Jason Azzopardi has said on its radio station:

“Were I Carmelo Abela, I would lodge a police report regarding what the brothers Degiorgio said”. 

Azzopardi told former Minister Carmelo Abela that he was lying when he said there was a court ban and maintained that Abela had every right to lodge a report with the police regarding the allegations being made by the Degiorgio Brothers. 

George and Alfred Degiorgio were condemned to 40 years in prison after they admitted they were involved in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. In Court, they alleged that Abela and the former Minister Chris Cardona gave instructions regarding the HSBC heist.

On the same programme on RTK103, Abela continued insisting that he was a victim of an attack on HSBC in Qormi in 2010. He continued that the Degiorgio brothers have no information on the case and blamed him  “In an attempt to hand the marble to the jack”.