By Andrew Stern

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Conrad Black's chief defence lawyer said on Monday he does not plan to call Donald Trump to the stand in the former media mogul's criminal fraud trial.

The celebrity real estate magnate's name had surfaced earlier in the trial in testimony indicating that Black gave him a proxy so he could appear at a shareholders meeting to help quell anger among rebellious shareholders of Black's one-time media giant, Hollinger International.

Trump also figures in a controversial surprise birthday party Black threw in 2000 for his wife Barbara Amiel Black at La Grenouille restaurant in New York. Prosecutors contend Black fraudulently charged Hollinger International $40,000 (20,000 pounds) for the party when it was a social, not a business affair.

Trump was among the guests and was then involved in purchasing the Chicago Sun-Times building and land from Black's company. Black's lawyers said this shows the affair had business aspects.

There had been rumours that Trump would testify for Black but Edward Greenspan, Black's Toronto-based lawyer, told reporters outside of court "We're not calling Mr. Trump." He offered no explanation.

Meanwhile, an editor who once worked at one of Black's flagship newspapers testified that he was not certain Black was out of reach, as prosecutors contend, during a trip to Bora Bora which the government contends was a holiday fraudulently passed off as a business trip.

Ken Whyte, editor of Canada's National Post at the time of the 2001 trip and currently editor-in-chief of Maclean's Magazine, also testified that he still felt loyalty to Black.

Whyte was called as a defence witness as Black's criminal fraud trial entered its 12th week.