Labour’s One TV and radio have been ordered to pay €5,000 to former PN minister Louis Galea.

Dr Galea had filed the libel suit against Etienne St John and Felix Agius, who at the time were responsible for Super 1 TV and Super 1 Radio.

Dr Galea had argued that he had felt insulted after Labour’s media, in April 1997, had quoted parts of a book – ‘The diary of Ciro del Negro’ - which tells the story of drug imports to Malta, and mentioned him during these clips.

The book was written by journalist and lawyer Joe Mifsud and published by the Malta Labour Party's information department in 1997.

Dr Galea explained that he felt insulted for having been mentioned during these clips, firstly because he had no ties to the case, and secondly because he did his utmost to stop the spread of drugs when he was minister.

On their part, both Mr St John and Mr Agius rebutted the allegations and said that they never implied that Dr Galea had some form of involvement in the case but only mentioned him because certain individuals close to Dr Galea were mentioned in the book.

Judge Joseph Micallef remarked that from the evidence that was presented in court, it results that Dr Galea was not involved in a drug trafficking ring.

He also said that the clips were aired over a number of days in a systematic way and the clips kept being aired despite Dr Galea’s constant public denials that he was involved in this ring.