Hillman fails to get interim measure on Times of Malta graft case

The Court has turned down a request by the former boss of Allied Newspapers, Adrian Hillman, to issue an interim measure so procedures connected to his alleged graft, bribery, and corruption would stop until a constitutional case is decided.

Hillman requested that Magistrate Leonard Caruana recuse himself from hearing his case, but Judge Doreen Clarke threw out the request, stating that since none of Hillman’s fundamental rights were being breached, procedures against him should proceed.

The charges relate to a multi-million-euro project Allied Newspapers entered into with then-OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri when Hillman was at the helm of the organisation that publishes The Times of Malta.

The constitutional case filed by Hillman, which is still ongoing, requests that the court remove Magistrate Leonard Caruana from deciding on the criminal charges filed against him.

The same magistrate is hearing an identical but separate case against his former colleague, Vince Buhagiar, also a former managing director at the company.

Like Hillman, Buhagiar is accused of receiving bribes from the multi-million-euro printing machines bought for the newspaper from a company owned by Schembri.

According to Hillman, the fact that the same magistrate is hearing both cases and hearing the same evidence might prejudice his case, especially if the case against Buhagiar is determined before his own.

So far, the court has turned down all of Hillman’s requests.

In May 2021, Adrian Hillman, together with Schembri and others, was formally charged with bribery, corruption and graft, making millions from a project involving the opening of a new Progress Press printing facility hosted at the new HQ for The Times of Malta in Mrieħel.

Separately, two other managing directors of the company, Hillman’s predecessor Vincent Buhagiar and his successor, Michel Rizzo, were also charged with corruption and money laundering.

Following the revelations of alleged corruption at The Times of Malta, first revealed in 2017 by slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, years had to pass until Hillman, Buhagiar, and Rizzo were charged.

While the police initially did not investigate the claims, a magisterial inquiry, forced by then-PN leader Simon Busuttil, led to criminal charges in 2021.

An internal inquiry by The Times of Malta on the allegations was never published, raising questions about its findings and the reasons for non-disclosure.

Calls for the publication of the inquiry were always turned down by The Times of Malta.

Meanwhile, Hillman is facing further criminal charges in relation to the fraudulent hospitals scandal.