Stagno Navarra in financial trouble, again

Labour TV presenter Karl Stagno Navarra, who has a long history of being summoned to court accused of defrauding people, is again in financial trouble, this time with his own lawyer.

According to a new court case against the ONE TV presenter, lawyer Jean Paul Sammut has accused Stagno Navarra of failing to pay him approximately €5,000 for legal services, including money he forked out on his behalf.

Stagno Navarra has failed to follow through with the payments despite promises made via voice messages that payment would be made, court documents show.

The court summons lists the Labour Party headquarters in Hamrun and ONE TV’s complex in Marsa as addresses for Stagno Navarra’s notification.

Sammut claims that despite his various communications with Stagno Navarra, his client never paid his dues.

In June 2021, the court, presided by Magistrate Rachel Montebello, ordered the Labour presenter to pay €7,303 to Managing Consulting Services Industry Ltd for failing to settle various bills related to the cleaning of his rented apartment.

The company told the court that Stagno Navarra always admitted that he had accumulated debts but never paid.

A few years earlier, in July 2017, Magistrate Josette Demicoli ordered him to pay €42,900 to LCL Investment Ltd for dues on the rental of a penthouse in St Julian’s that Stagno Navarra was using as his residence.

During the case, the court heard how Stagno Navarra, who signed a contract to pay €2,500 a month in rent, failed to make payments. The magistrate declared Stagno Navarra a squatter and ordered him to vacate the rented premises.

These incidents form part of a long history of court cases against Stagno Navarra for failing to pay others what they are owed.

Once derided by Labour supporters for his bombastic reporting style when previously in the PN newsroom, Stagno Navarra switched to Labour in 2013 as soon as disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat was elected prime minister.

Just a few years earlier, he was kicked out by the PN following serious fraud claims by various businessmen.

He was given lucrative government jobs by Labour, first at Malta Enterprise and then at Air Malta.

Stagno Navarra, still a regular presence on Labour TV, is currently at another government job with the Occupational Health and Safety Authority following the demise of Air Malta.