Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1538377
5 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 13 AUGUST 2025 NEWS ALEX Borg and Adrian Delia have satisfied the verification criteria to contest the election of a new PN leader. In a statement on Tuesday, the PN Electoral Commission said it received the audit report from the party's candidates commission. With the due diligence pro- cess out of the way, the Elec- toral Commission will now accept nominations from Borg and Delia between Thursday 14 August and Tuesday 19 Au- gust. After this, voting in the elec- tion will take place on Saturday 6 September. Only PN mem- bers holding a valid member- ship card will be able to vote during the specially convened general convention. Early voting sessions will be held on Wednesday 27 and Sat- urday 30 August. The PN's lenghty due dili- gence process for the two MPs took six weeks to conclude. According to the party's orig- inal election guidelines pub- lished in July, the candidates will not be able to give inter- views to non-party media now that the due diligence process is over. Alex Borg and Adrian Delia cleared to run for PN leader NICOLE MEILAK nmeilak@mediatoday.com.mt Alex Borg and Adrian Delia will lcontest the PN leadership election on 6 September A court has refused an attempt by e-money firm, Papaya Limit- ed, to stop Times of Malta from publishing information about the company. Judge Lawrence Mintoff reject- ed Papaya Limited's request for a prohibitory injunction on Tues- day. The court ruled the material in question was not confidential and journalists cannot be prevented from reporting in the public in- terest. After receiving questions from Times of Malta, Papaya filed a court application for a prohibitory injunction against Allied Newspa- pers Ltd, Times of Malta and jour- nalist Jacob Borg. The firm had argued that the planned article contained confi- dential details from a Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) investigation, that the findings were still under dispute, and that publication would cause irrepara- ble harm. In his ruling, judge Mintoff stat- ed that the court will not "delve into issues of whether a journalis- tic investigation or report is based on privileged information or sources bound by confidentiality. The court should also not investi- gate whether the information was obtained by the journalist illegally, and should never grant a request for the issuance of a prohibitory injunction with the aim of stop- ping the journalist from continu- ing with their journalistic investi- gation." He further stressed that "in any case and in every eventuality, jour- nalistic sources are always pro- tected." In its submissions, Times of Malta argued the measure would effectively be a gag order, block- ing journalists from releasing a story of public importance. They further stipulated that such a move would stifle journalism and threaten freedom of expression. The court also found the infor- mation in question, the FIAU's 2023 "Compliance Review of Pa- paya Limited" and an "Administra- tive Measure Publication Notice" was already in the public domain. Papaya had itself filed the report in separate legal proceedings without requesting confidentiality, making it accessible via the court registry and the eCourts system. The judge ruled a prohibitory in- junction cannot be granted when the action the applicant seeks to prevent has already taken place. Papaya had initially secured a provisional injunction. However, the court ultimately revoked the earlier injunction and ordered Pa- paya to pay legal costs. The company is also currently appealing a €279,000 fine imposed by the FIAU for alleged anti-mon- ey laundering breaches. Times of Malta editor-in-chief Herman Grech spoke out follow- ing the decision. He stated that approving Papa- ya's request would have serious- ly undermined press freedom in Malta. "It would set a dangerous prec- edent where journalists could be hauled into court not over what they have published, but over what they are merely investigat- ing," Grech said. Papaya Limited's request to silence Times of Malta denied by court MATTHEW FARRUGIA mfarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt Judge Mintoff ruled that the court should never grant a request to stop a journalist from continuing an investigation (Photo: Jonathan Borg/Times of Malta)