Lovin Malta editor faces grilling by former Opposition leader in libel suit

Lovin Malta editor Julian Bonnici on Monday faced a grilling at the witness stand by Adrian Delia over a story claiming the former Opposition leader had messaged Yorgen Fenech during a 2018 parliamentary debate about the businessman’s secret company 17 Black.

The story titled 'Yorgen Fenech claimed Adrian Delia messaged him during 17 Black debate' was published by Lovin Malta in August, triggering an immediate reaction by Delia who sued the online news portal and its editor for libel, claiming that the allegations in his regard were “absolutely not true.”

When the case resumed in court it was Delia himself who, on account of the indisposition of his lawyer, took on questioning of the respondent.

The story made reference to text messages sent to Fenech whilst Delia was debating an urgent motion spearheaded by himself in Parliament after the businessman had been outed as the owner of 17 Black- a Dubai-based company with alleged ties to government corruption.

“When you made those allegations about me, do you remember contacting me?” asked Delia.

“No,” replied Bonnici, explaining that he had sufficient evidence to go by.

He explained that sometime early last year, sources had...