Atlantis World Group of Companies NV v Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso SPA
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | SIR CHARLES GRAY |
| Judgment Date | 16 May 2008 |
| Neutral Citation | [2008] EWHC 1323 (QB) |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division |
| Docket Number | HQ06X03394 |
| Date | 16 May 2008 |
[2008] EWHC 1323 (QB)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
Royal Courts of Justice
Sir Charles Gray
(sitting As A Judge Of The High Court)
HQ06X03394
MR. M. BARCA (instructed by Dawsons LLP) appeared on behalf of the Claimants.
MR. M. WARBY QC and MISS A. COPPOLA (instructed by Davenport Lyons) appeared on behalf of the Defendant.
(As approved by the Judge)
INTRODUCTION
This is the trial of a libel action which, by agreement of the parties, has been heard without a jury.
THE PARTIES
The first claimant is a company incorporated in the Netherlands Antilles and forms part of the Atlantis World Group (“AWG”). It is a substantial business group with casino operation revenues of US$22 million and Italian operational revenues of E25 million in 1997. I have been shown a diagram of the corporate structure of AWG. The first claimant, Atlantis World Group of Companies NV, is the main partner in, and mandate holder of, RTI Atlantis World Group of Companies NV (“RTI”), a joint venture vehicle which was awarded one of ten licences issued by the Italian government to collect gaming taxes due from the operation of approximately 110,000 video slot machines run by independent retailers throughout Italy. The position as I understand it is that, from the inception of the AAMS licence granted by the Italian government to the first claimant until 1 st February 2007, RTI was carrying on the business of the licensee and, accordingly, was doing so at the time when the article complained of was published in June/July 2006. So successful was the business of the first claimant in Italy – (it is said to have been making more than E14 million per annum before tax by 2006) – that it explored various ways of raising additional finance. Eventually, according at least to the claimants' case, it turned its attention to the UK money markets. On 10 th March 2006, the second claimant, Atlantis World Group Giocolegale Limited (“Giocolegale”), was incorporated in England. The intention was that it should take over the business of the joint venture in Italy, which I have described. At the time of publication, it is common ground that the second claimant was not conducting any trading business. That is not challenged by the claimants. It finally took over the AAMS licence, to which I have referred, on 1 st February 2007 pursuant to a supplementary licence deed of 31 January 2007, to which AAMS, RTI and Giocolegale were parties.
The defendant company, Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso SPA, is a major Italian publishing group and is the publisher of, amongst other publications, a magazine called “L'Espresso”. As appears from its English language website, the defendant is one of the leading media groups in Italy, with interests in publishing, radio, advertising, internet businesses and television. One of the well-known newspapers published by the defendant is La Republica. It also has a number of local newspapers and commercial radio stations.
THE PUBLICATION COMPLAINED OF
The article which is the subject of this action appeared in the issue of L'Espresso dated 6 th July 2006, although the evidence is that it was circulating rather earlier than that, from 30 th June or thereabouts, onwards. The article was of course in Italian. I have been provided with an agreed translation:
“The business of AN [Alleanza Nazionale] with slot machines. This is the new thread being followed in great secrecy by the Prosecutor of Potenza. The PP Henry Woodcock summoned to his office Amedeo Laboccetta, the man who embodied the conflict of interest of AN in the gambling sector. Laboccetta, a personal friend of Gianfranco Fini, is a veteran of AN in Naples and for the last couple of years has turned to business. He is the Italian representative of Atlantis World, the main licensee of the State Monopolies for the control of slot machines. In this capacity, in the spring of 2005, Laboccetta had a telephone conversation with the private secretary of Gianfranco Fini, Francesco Proietti, who is now a member of Parliament. Woodcock listened to the tapped conversation and discovered another case of conflict of interest 'made in AN', after the case regarding the clinics of the Fini family. When a warrant was issued for the arrest of Vittorio Emanuele, the PP accused Proietti of entering into some kind of exchange with Giorgio Tino, Director of the AAMS, the Agency for State Monopolies, which is sin charge of monitoring gambling. According to the reconstruction done by the PP, Proietti and his friends in AN managed to avoid having the licence revoked for Atlantis World and in exchange, they supported Tino who was confirmed as head of the State Monopolies body. From the telephone conversations, the interests at stake were clear there was talk about millions of Euros that the State Monopolies body was supposed to receive but that had gone missing. The scandal surrounding the slot machines that led to the arrest of Vittorio Emanuele pales by comparison. Every year, legal slot machines bring in 20 thousand billion of old Italian lira. The 'providers' are there to make the slot machines operational and monitor them, and in exchange they charge a percentage one the amounts gambled. Atlantis is the market leader but was behind with its payments owed to the State. And the risk of withdrawal of the licence would have caused millions of euros worth of damage to the company headed by Laboccetta. To block Tino's 'obstructive move', Laboccetta contacted Francesco Proietti. Immediately, Fini's right hand man swung into action. 'I'll phone him on his mobile and ask what the fuck this story is all about.' However, Proietti did not try to manipulate Tina alone. As with the case of the clinics of the Fini family, the political party and family links intermingle even in the area of slot machines. According to the PP, 'as proof of his strong and high-level connections with the Monopolies, Proietti arranged a meeting between Laboccetta and Gabriella Alemanno, Deputy Director the State Monopolies' and the sister of the then AN minister. According to Woodcock, Laboccetta 'received from Gabriella Alemanno a series of procedural guidelines concerning the counter-moves to be adopted'. But it was the meeting between Proietti and Tino of 27 th April that unblocked the situation. According to the PP 'the meeting had a successful outcome'.
These were troublesome times for the slot machine business. The Espresso had published a series of articles that reconstructed the story of Atlantis ('State Gambling', 4 th November 2004) and its links with AN ('the Right Likes Gambling', 2 nd December 2004).
Those articles described the incredible events surrounding the company based in the Antilles which became a provider for the Monopolies, despite the fact that its principal partner was Francesco Corallo, was the son of the criminal offender Gaetano, condemned for criminal association. Don Gaetano served his sentence and now travels freely around Italy, but in the 80s was arrested for trying to take over the casinos in Campione (which is in the news again at the moment) and Sanremo. This investigation brought to light the relationship between Don Tano and the mafia boss of Catania, Nitto Santapaola. Corallo Junior was not under investigation, and now heads an empire which controls three casinos in the Antilles. These are the same island and sector in which his father was involved. All water under the bridge.
In 2004, Gianfranco Fini went on holiday there, in San Marteen, and was photographed with his wife and Laboccetta and his wife in the casino restaurant. 'Fini was there to go diving. He and the party have nothing to do with Corallo,' replied the spokesman Salvo Sottile when 'L'Espresso' noted these coincidences. However, now the Potenza investigation shows that it was Fini's right hand man who took action to help Corallo and Laboccetta's company when, in the spring of 2005, Atlantis was under fire for failing to link the slot machines to the network and for its alleged failure to comply with the regulations. During those days, even the political right wing parties asked a flurry of questions, demanding that the Monopolies revoke the licence. The Senate Finance and Treasury Committee summoned Tino for a hearing on 25 th May. He was very agitated. He did not want to displease Proietti and his friend Laboccetta. He knew that the confirmation of his position with the Monopolies was also dependent on AN. But he could not go to the Senate without any defence. On 3 rd May he said to his right hand man: 'Draw up the document, it will be signed today. Tell Laboccetta off the record. Since in ten days time we have the Finance Committee, we need to have everything in order.'
According to Woodcock, however, the revocation never came: in fact, to date, Atlantis World is still on the list of State Monopolies licensees, as evidence that Proietti's intervention resulted in the outcome requested by Laboccetta.
One month after the hearing, Tino was confirmed as Managing Director of the Monopolies for three years.”
The claimants complain only of the following:
“The Espresso had published a series of articles that reconstructed the story of Atlantis ('State Gambling', 4 th November 2004) and its links with AN ('the Right Likes Gambling', 2 nd December 2004).
Those articles described the incredible events surrounding the company based in the Antilles which became a provider for the Monopolies, despite the fact that its principal partner was Francesco Corallo, was the son of the criminal offender Gaetano, condemned...
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