Fishing expeditions my foot

Jesmond Bonello, a former Times journalist turned media man, thinks that I will bury my hatchet and let things go. Not over my dead body, not after his declarations in court and those of his lawyer claiming that I went on some "fishing expedition".

I reached out with an olive branch, but Bonello seems to want his pound of flesh.

Bonello, and like him people like Peter Fenech, argue that I pick on them. I have insisted all along in various defamation suits - and the courts have disagreed with me on this - that anybody politically appointed, or who is a recipient of public funds, should be open to scrutiny.

Bonello instituted libel proceedings after an opinion I expressed about the direct orders he had received from entities under the Nationalist administration. Bonello claims that there was never a boycott against MaltaToday, or that he had some conflict of interest over his control of government advertising.

It was of course a coincidence that his friends, Edgar Galea Curmi (Lawrence Gonzi's former personal assistant), Richard Cachia Caruana (PN strategist and former permanent representative to the EU), Alan Camilleri (former Malta Enterprise chief) and Natalino Fenech (former PBS head of news) also instituted libel proceedings at around the same time.

In court, Bonello and a plethora of officials from government departments gave 'very limited information' on what direct orders had been given to Bonello.  All this evidence was before the election, it now appears that the files have resurfaced.

This week, the amazing figure of over €1 million in government contracts to Bonello's company was revealed in the House. More interestingly is the fact that the papers laid in the House revealed the way media buying took place: in some cases, Bonello would first win the contract for media buying and design the adverts, and then place those same adverts in his own publications. One surmises that not only was he paid for the media buying, but also for the advert placement.

Government officials tell me that the civil service is far from cooperative when asked to give information about the previous administration, but this is now changing. I will go one step further and say they have purposely done everything humanely possible to give the wrong picture.

Bonello, when asked in court whether he ever received a contract from Malta Enterprise while he was appointed a director on its board, under oath declared rather emphatically 'no'. Well now it turns out that this was not the case. Not only was he awarded contracts, he was also awarded direct orders by Malta Enterprise.

He also said that he only received a small retainer from Air Malta. It now transpires he received thousands from the national airline.

Now, if that is not perjury, what is?

Though I have reservations about the fairness of our courts, I still believe that somehow, whether in the Maltese or pan-European judicial system, justice will prevail.

The details emerging in this particular case are shocking. At the end of the day, the duty of the press to probe public officials or question the execution of public contracts and their raison d'être, should and will remain supreme.

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The decision by environmentalists to call off a national protest says more about the current state of the green lobby than the unpredictable Maltese weather. I understand the odiousness of comparisons, but in my younger days, we organised protests come rain or shine.

It was crucial for protestors to voice their opinion yesterday. It was important for them to point out the politics of convenience when it comes to planning, and crucial to emphasise how the powers that be place little or no value to land that is worth millions to a few rich speculators.

With all the new conditions outlined in the new policy on outside development zones, it is clear that MEPA is intentionally creating loopholes for new development.

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The Polidano saga unravels an underlying hypocrisy of our society.

All of a sudden Polidano becomes a hero. In-Nazzjon yesterday had a shot of Polidano employees locked out of their factory.

Incredible. We can all agree that the timing of the MEPA action was intentional.  In this regard we cannot doubt that Joseph Muscat has a very Blairite approach to taking decisions that have some sort of media benefit.

But the fact remains that action was taken and a message sent to the 'offender'. The question is, will this be a one-off?

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The decision to remove Davinia Galea from CEO of the Arts Council, replacing her with former One TV and PBS chairman Albert Marshall is fuelled by only one thought: placing blue-eyes boys in these crucial positions and doing away with individuals who have no affinity with the party.

It is a sad state of affairs which continues to demolish the Malta Tagħna Lkoll slogan, so soon after it captured the imagination of the electorate.

Davinia Galea was doing a good job. The last thing that should have mattered in the arts was politics.