A theatre director’s request to stop Mario Philip Azzopardi from removing him as director of Stagun Teatru Malti has been turned down by a court.

Sean Buhagiar (right) had quit as director of the ‘Habbilni ha nirbah’ production after a massive row with Mr Azzopardi (left) in the same week the production was going to be launched.

Stagun Teatru Malti was set up by Mr Azzopardi and Mr Buhagiar in 2014.

Mr Azzopardi is the majority shareholder with 750 shares while Mr Buhagiar owns 500 shares.

After the row, Sean Buhagiar said he was barred from having access to company documents, including on income and expenses. This was done at a time when their lawyers were trying to iron out an agreement, including the possible sale of Mr Buhagiar’s shares to Mr Azzopardi. Mr Buhagiar said that in order to do so he would need access to the company’s books.

Mr Buhagiar had filed a warrant for prohibitory injunction after Mr Azzopardi, in a 20 April meeting, moved to remove Buhagiar from the role of director.

The warrant had been provisionally upheld on 18 April.

Subsequently, Mr Azzopardi had argued that Mr Buhagiar abandoned the production on the eve of its launch and threatened to halt the play, even if all tickets had been sold out by that time.

Mr Azzopardi said the public should never be involved in quarrels between artists. He also said that, as majority shareholder, he had a right to call the meeting.

In fact, Madame Justice Miriam Hayman ruled that Mr Azzopardi was acting within his rights. The law, the court said, allowed Mr Azzopardi to remove the director without the need to give a reason for his dismissal.

The plaintiff, the judge said, had other remedies at his disposal and there was no need for a warrant of prohibitory injunction. The request was therefore turned down.

 

Mr Buhagiar has sent in the following comments:

It ought to be clarified that the decision of the court to dismiss the precautionary warrant of prohibitory injunction preventing the holding of a meeting of the shareholers of the company to remove Sean Buhagiar from the board of the company was taken on the ground that he has other remedies available at law to contest the move towards the removal. He is now considering those alternative remedies and in the absence of a settlement will be proceeding accordingly.

“It ought to be clarified that I procured the issue of the precautionary warrant of prohibitory injunction given the limited options available to me at the time, having received notice of a meeting convened specifically for this purpose.  I had already offered to exit the company at fair value since I no longer share Mr Azzopardi’s artistic vision and work ethic but disparity of views is delaying agreement. Meanwhile steps were taken to deny my access to information pertaining to the company – including information related to public funds of which the company is a beneficiary – and this triggered a number of concerns.” said Buhagiar

 

He also vehemently denied that he threatened to stop the production. “When I left, I left for the good of the production, and not to stop it. I had said publicly that I wished the best of luck to the actors and the writer. In fact it was Mr Azzopardi who threatened to stop the production if I do not return. When I was told that Mr Azzopardi refused my offer to continue my work without his interference, I only asked for my previously agreed payment to be guaranteed in writing if my unfinished work was to be used. If this was perceived as a threat, then it means that someone did not want to pay me. I could have stopped it if I wanted to, but I would have never done that to the actors”, he added.