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 “reached out” to him and he had seen the messages sent by Fenech to various individuals.

Pressed by Delia, Bonnici said that what he had actually seen was a picture of the data extraction from the phone of the business tycoon, currently awaiting trial as alleged accomplice in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Without revealing his sources, Bonnici insisted that he had “sources and experts who confirmed” those texts, adding that he had seen the contents “with his own eyes.”

“So you did not see those messages from my phone, in no manner, form or format whatsoever?”

“No, I did not see your messages,” replied the witness.

And what was Fenech involved in at the time of that November 2018 parliamentary debate, went on Delia.

“While not out in the public domain, my source indicated that Fenech was a person of interest at the time,” said Bonnici, pointing out that the businessman had been revealed as the secret owner of 17 Black.

“Do you remember who had called that debate?” asked Delia.

“The Opposition,” said Bonnici, further confirming that Delia himself was the leader of the opposition at the time.

“But it was so irrelevant in his mind that he forgot all about it,” remarked Delia, turning towards Magistrate Rachel Montebello who presided over the hearing.

Bonnici pointed out that the story was based on what Fenech said and that the context was not relevant at the time, adding that it had changed “a year later.”

So the source of those texts was extraneous to that conversation, but Bonnici had not verified with Delia, nor with Fenech nor with the recipient of the data, went on Delia himself, wearing his lawyer’s hat.

“My source had explicitly told me not to share that data nor reveal the source,” Bonnici said, pointing out that a number of those messages were published by Mark Camilleri on social media.

The case continues in March for possible further testimony by Bonnici.

Lawyer Andrew Borg Cardona is assisting the respondent.

Lawyers Vincent Galea and Alan Zerafa are assisting Delia.