Former PN MP Jason Azzopardi has retracted claims that National Heritage Minister Owen Bonnici was a criminal and a liar, leading the PL MP to withdraw his libel case.

Bonnici had filed a libel suit in 2019 after Azzopardi made his claims in a Facebook post.

When the parties appeared before Magistrate Rachel Montebello on Thursday, Azzopardi informed the court that he was withdrawing the claims he made with reference to Bonnici.

As a result, Bonnici informed the court that he was withdrawing the case.

In a Facebook post after the court hearing, Bonnici said he had filed the case to show that this was nothing more than “mud-slinging”.

“This is not the first time that I took Azzopardi to court and was proven right. I am determined to keep delivering my utmost, as I have been doing throughout my whole career in the service of the public, so that with renewed energy and hand in hand with the rest of my colleagues, our country and the Maltese and Gozitan families keep going from strength to strength and move forward,” the minister wrote.