Adrian Delia drops libel case after Lovin Malta retracts Yorgen Fenech WhatsApp story

Former Nationalist leader Adrian Delia has withdrawn his libel case against Lovin Malta after the news portal retracted allegations it had made about him sending messages to Yorgen Fenech during a parliamentary debate on 17 Black.

In an article published in August last year, Lovin Malta had cited “well-informed sources” as having informed them Fenech had sent a text message to an unnamed businesswoman, boasting of his links to Maltese politicians and claiming to have been texted by Delia during a parliamentary debate on 17 Black, Fenech’s Dubai-based company which was linked to government corruption.

Delia had filed a libel case the next day, forcefully denying the allegations and insisting that the story was aimed at tarnishing his reputation and integrity.

But in a clarification published yesterday evening, Lovin Malta declared that it had not verified the information which they had received from a third party. Lovin Malta, however insisted that they had ascertained that the allegation had been made.

“It should be clarified that the article was not intended to assert that Dr Adrian Delia had been in contact with Mr Yorgen Fenech and it was clearly reported that Fenech had made the allegation to a third party. It is regretted that the article may have been misunderstood as an allegation of wrongdoing on the part of Dr Delia: this was not our intention,” Lovin Malta declared.

The original article has also been amended.In a clarification published yesterday evening, it said that “in the light of this clarification, the libel case instituted against us by Dr Delia is being withdrawn.”

The libel case had led to a public tiff between Delia and Therese Comodini Cachia last month when the latter described Delia's grilling of a Lovin Malta journalist on the witness stand as "surreal" and "in poor taste". The public spat forced Bernard Grech to call in both his MPs.