Alkagesta has begun legal proceedings in Malta against the Maltese Herald, alleging that the publication has repeatedly carried defamatory and libellous claims about the company over roughly the past year. According to a statement issued by the commodity trading group on 18 September, the complaint has been filed with Malta's Court of Magistrates.
The company said the articles in question contained statements it considers entirely false, damaging and unsupported by evidence, and that the material had been repeated despite several approaches asking the publication to review its reporting. Alkagesta added that it had set out the facts to the newspaper on more than one occasion before deciding to litigate.
In its statement the trader stressed that the step had not been taken lightly. It said the offending articles and references were not retracted or corrected after those requests, and that it remains open to settling the matter without a court ruling if the publication apologises and withdraws the pieces concerned.
Alkagesta also pointed to what it described as pay-to-play websites mirroring the same allegations, saying the spread of the claims left it with no realistic alternative to formal proceedings. The company said it is confident in the strength of its case and expects the facts to support its position.
The business, which runs fuel oil and marine fuel trading alongside shipping and logistics operations, has built much of its market profile around counterparty confidence, with credit, compliance and risk management functions at the centre of its business model. Reputational claims of the kind it disputes carry commercial weight in trading and trade finance relationships, which the company says is why it chose to respond formally.
Alkagesta said it will not comment further on the case until the legal process has run its course. The Maltese Herald's response to the claim was not included in the company's statement, and the allegations at the centre of the dispute remain untested in court.
