'Neville Gafà offered Libyans money not to testify' - medical visa libel case witness

Libyan nationals, eager to testify about how they allegedly paid a government official for medical visas which should have been issued for free, are currently facing great pressure not to do so.

This was alleged on Monday morning by Ivan Grech Mintoff who, once again, took the witness stand under cross-examination in libel proceedings instituted by OPM official Neville Gafà against David Lindsay, as editor of the Malta Independent on Sunday.

“After the last sitting, just four days later, Mr Gafà was back in Libya offering these people money for them not to testify,” Mr Grech Mintoff explained to the court, before stepping off the witness stand. “There’s great pressure on them at present.”

Whilst taking note of this additional piece of information, Magistrate Francesco Depasquale declared that a Skype call with the prospective witnesses would be scheduled to take place during the next sitting, adding that unless the call was effected on that date, the court would move on.

Earlier on in his testimony, Mr Grech Mintoff explained how the Libyans, named under the ‘list of persons willing to testify’ presented in the records of the case, had contacted him about the alleged illicit...