Times of Malta editor-in-chief Steve Mallia and head of news Ariadne Massa have had their bank assets frozen by the Magistrates’ Court at the request of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses. 

The court order is intended to recoup €4,000 the union officials were awarded by way of damages after winning a libel case against the newspaper.

The newspaper has not yet paid the damages because it has appealed to the Constitutional Court, The Times said on its website. This case is still pending. An appeals court in January had reduced the damages payable to €4,000 from €11,500 after ruling the amount was excessive.  

Former MUMN president Paul Pace, Colin Galea, George Saliba and Maria Cutajar had filed libel proceedings, claiming a story published in The Times of Malta defamed them.

The order was signed off by Magistrate Francesco Depasquale.