Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1037786
24 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 10 OCTOBER 2018 MATTHEW VELLA THE PN's media boss Pierre Portelli has accused the wife of Opposition leader Adrian Delia of having been "weap- onised" against the Nationalist Party after she took the side of a TV scriptwriter who is in litigation with Portelli over an intellectual property claim. Nickie Vella de Fremeaux fired off a Facebook post tak- ing to task – without men- tioning him – Pierre Portelli, one of Delia's major support- ers in his bid to become PN leader in 2017. Lawyer Nickie Vella de Fre- meaux took up the mantle for writer and actor Sandro Vella, who is currently embroiled in litigation with Portelli, whose private company Watermelon Productions is a producer of soaps and television drama. Vella wrote the story for Net TV's 'Fattigi', but left before the airing of the pilot after learning that Portelli was us- ing Watermelon Productions for the series' production on the party TV station. Vella has filed a court application claiming his intellectual prop- erty was stolen. But Vella de Fremeaux took to Facebook to suggest her 'friend' Sandro Vella was robbed of his intellectual property, while appealing for both Vella and Portelli – also described as a friend – to "sit around a table with their re- spective legal counsel in the hope that business integrity finally prevails... the scam ended and any dissension erased once and for all." Vella is the brother of PN candidate Norman Vella. Vella de Fremeaux was clear in her suggestion that Portelli had stolen Vella's intellectual property: "Anyone who uses any material or as in this case a story, which is copyrighted yet this right is vested in a third party and has not been assigned to you by means of a copyright transfer agreement, then such person is deemed to be committing a crime... It is also illegal to erase the iden- tity of the real without and re- place his name with that of an imposter. Such was the case here," she said, referring to Portelli's decision to remove Vella's writing credit from the production. "I trust that this is simply owing to the fact that some- one is ignorant of the law and didn't consult with his law- yers before this all got out of hand," she continued. Vella de Fremeaux, whose candour online often means she will comment on mat- ters concerning her husband or the PN's affairs without consideration for political fall-out, said the case had up- set her because of the "deaf- ening silence of the peo- ple both on social media as well as journalists... and this notwithstanding the unset- tling alleged criminal events unfolding before [Vella's] very eyes. Events that cru- elly taunted him for months, making him feel stripped and robbed of his property and rights – his only sin being the lack of funds to sue those who allegedly robbed him." In her emotional post stand- ing up for Vella, Vella de Fre- meaux seemed riled by the "silence and inability" of peo- ple to speak up in the face of injustices. "I humbly urge my fellow citizens to stop the si- lence," she said. Pierre Portelli himself post- ed a reply on her Facebook status – since then removed – telling his party leader's wife that she had "no idea of the details of this sad episode in my life... you were fed lies and half-truth and didn't take time to listen to the other side of the story." Portelli accused her of hav- ing been "weaponised" against him and Media.Link – the party's media company – and "against decent case and crew, and ultimately against the party your husband leads." PN media chief accuses Delia's wife of being 'weaponised against the party' Just an open spat: Pierre Portelli (left) with Adrian Delia, and right: Nickie Vella de Fremeaux