Tonio Borg, now EU Commissioner, has been awarded €5,000 in damages after a court upheld a libel case he filed against the Labour Party and Frans Ghirxi, then editor of l-orizzont.
The case was filed in August 2007 when Dr Borg was minister responsible for land.
Dr Borg successfully argued that a full-page Labour Party advert under the heading Kumpens ta kwazi Lm70,000 was libellous.
The issue involved the compensation given by the government to then parliamentary secretary Ninu Zammit after the expropriation of part of his land.
The article claimed there had been preferences for Mr Zammit, in that he was paid before others. However the court concluded that Mr Zammit had not been given compensation under a procedure which he was not entitled to.