In Court this Week

IN COURT THIS WEEK

This week we revisit the pleadings which was filed by the late Mario Ricci against the Times Newspaper Limited in London in 1986. This case has special relevance to the history of Seychelles.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE 1986 R No 1250

QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION

BETWEEN:

GIOVANNI MARIO RICCI Plaintiff

and

TIMES NEWSPAPERS LIMITED

Defendant

STATEMENT OF CLAIM

1. The Plaintiff is an Italian businessman resident in the Seychelles.

2. The Defendant is the proprietor and publisher of the Sunday Times, a national Sunday newspaper with a readership of millions within the jurisdiction of the court.

3. On page 3 of the issue of the Sunday Times for 1st December 1985 the Defendants falsely and maliciously published of and concerning the Plaintiff the following words:

“What the gunned-down exile told Sunday Times”

“Seychelles victim -dossier of death.”

“Gerard Hoarau, the exiled Seychelles political leader who was machine-gunned to death outside his home in north London on Friday morning had prepared a dossier for The Sunday Times, describing an alleged plot by President Albert Rene of the Seychelles to murder him in France. Hoarau had planned to deliver the dossier later in the day.

“The three page document was written by Hoarau, the 34 year old leader of the anti-Rene Mouvement Pour la Resistance, and his press officer, Bernard Verlaque, a former Reuters correspondent in the Seychelles.

“It outlines a bungled plot to kill Hoarau in September at the home in Cannes of his wealthy Italian friend, Federico Casanova, 50, a financier whom Hoarau hoped would back his efforts to oust president Rene.

“The allegations made by Hoarau are extraordinary. He described a plot involving a French detective agency, guns smuggled in diplomatic bags, shadowy Mafia figures from New York and, finally, Mario Ricci, a millionaire Italian financier who lives in the Seychelles and is known locally as the “vice-president” because he is so close to president Rene.

“The claims, contained in the documents delivered to The Sunday Times yesterday, are being taken seriously by French police and Scotland Yard. Police in Nice told The Sunday Times yesterday that they knew about a plot to kill Hoarau. They said that they were investigating allegations that the two men behind the murder plot were Ricci and another man called Jean L’Allemand who is believed to live in New York.

“The French police’s main informant in reconstructing this plot is a French private detective, Jean pierre Beghelli, who says he was hired by l’Allemand to track Hoarau. Beghelli was arrested in September by police after the murder bid went disastrously wrong.

“Beghelli admits he bugged Casanova’s home to try and find out when Hoarau was next planning to visit Cannes. It was at this point that the plan went wrong. Thinking that Hoarau was at his friend’s house, Beghelli and other unnamed accomplices burst in. But Hoarau was not there.

“Beghelli was caught and handed over to the police, to whom he admitted that he had been recruited by l’Allemand on behalf of Ricci to kill Hoarau and Casanova.

“Beghelli told the police how the weapons for the assassinations had been smuggled to Paris in Seychelles diplomatic bags. A search of Beghelli’s home in Grasse unearthed firearms for which he did not have the necessary permits, although police are unsure whether these were the weapons smuggled from the Seychelles. Beghelli has now been charged with illegal possession of firearms.

“The police notified the French security service, who, in turn, warned Special Branch in London. A week before he was murdered Hoarau was told by police here, while he was demonstrating outside Seychelles high commission, that he might be in danger.

“Hoarau said that he was well aware that there could be an attempt on his life but told the British police that he would not allow anyone to stop his political work.

“There was, too, an American dimension which seemed to confirm Hoarau’s fears. In New York a former high-ranking Italian secret service officer, Francesco Pazienza, whose name has been linked with the collapse of Roberto Calvi’s Banco Ambrosiano, arrived in America travelling on a Seychelles diplomatic passport, which, he claimed, had been given to him by his “friend”, Albert Rene.”

4. In their natural and ordinary meaning the words complained of meant and were understood to mean:

i) that the Plaintiff was one of two men responsible for a bungled plot to kill Gerard Hoarau and Federico Casanova in Cannes in September 1985,

ii) that the Plaintiff had conspired with the New York Mafia to execute the plot, which had been instigated after discussions with President Albert Rene about the elimination of Gerard Hoarau,

iii) that the Plaintiff had caused Jean L’Allemand to recruit a French private detective, Jean Pierre Beghelli, to murder Gerard Hoarau and Federico Casanova.

5. By reason of the publication of the words complained of the Plaintiff’s reputation has been most seriously injured and his feelings have been gravely insulted and hurt.

6. Unless restrained by this Honorable Court the Defendant threatens to repeat the publication of the words complained of or similar words defamatory of the Plaintiff.

And the Plaintiff claims:

1. Damages for Libel

2. An injunction restraining the Defendants by their directors, officers, servants or agents or otherwise howsoever from further ‘writing, or publishing or causing to be written or published the words complained of or any similar words defamatory of the Plaintiff.