Blogger Manuel Delia, who has become one of Adrian Delia’s harshest critics, used to ghostwrite for the current PN leader during his leadership race, Pierre Portelli told a court today in testimony that shed light on the two Delias’ relationship.

The Executive Chairman of PN media organ MediaLink communications Pierre Portelli also explained how, when he did eventually offer Manuel Delia an editorship role, the blogger refused, saying he wanted double the money being offered.

“In summer of 2017, during the PN leadership race, Adrian Delia had thrown his hat into the ring and I was asked to help,” Portelli said.

Shortly after, Manuel Delia was enlisted to write articles of all types for Adrian Delia’s campaign. He wrote articles between August and September free of charge; however, as soon as Adrian Delia won the leadership race, it was alleged that Manuel Delia wrote to Pierre Portelli, saying he wanted to be paid for his work going forward.

He was then offered a role as editor with Pierre Portelli, which he refused by asking for double the pay

“I’ve known Manuel Delia for a long time,” said Pierre Portelli. “We were at university together. He has a very good pen and I had invited him to write a number of articles. I had offered him a job as an editor but he wanted twice as much money as I was offering.”

Soon after, Manuel Delia mentioned his “other clients” to Portelli

This alarmed Portelli, who said he had no idea who the clients were or what control they had over Manuel Delia. Worried about a potential conflict of interest, he began “to take everything he wrote as having been written for a particular client.”

The testimony came during a libel case filed by Manuel Delia against Media.Link editor Robert Cremona over a story involving Malta’s cannabis industry and alleged links to Adrian Delia’s family.

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Johnathan Cilia

Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]