‘Bundy told me Silvio Scerri wanted me out’ – Norman Vella

Nationalist candidate Norman Vella has claimed that TV presenter John Bundy had told him that it was the home affairs ministry’s chief of staff, Silvio Scerri, who was responsible for his transfer from the Public Broadcasting Services, to the immigration office.

Vella, a civil servant who availed himself of unpaid leave to pursue a broadcasting career, had been deployed with the Public Broadcasting Services on the request of the national broadcaster, in 2012. But following Labour’s re-election, he was redeployed back to his original post an immigration officer at the Malta International Airport.

The former broadcaster has since contested the European elections on the Nationalist Party ticket.

In a hearing before the Employment Commission, in the case Vella filed against the Prime Minister and the Principal Permanent Secretary claiming political discrimination in his redeployment, Vella said he had met Bundy at a funeral, where he allegedly told him that Silvio Scerri wanted him out of PBS.

Bundy will now be summoned to take the stand in coming sittings.

Vella also told the Employment Commission that in an interview with home affairs minister Manuel Mallia in a Labour organ, Mallia had commented that he could not fathom how an immigration officer had become a journalist.

Vella said that a letter informing PBS that he would be deployed back to MIA’s immigration department, was sent on 26 June via email to PBS chief executive Anton Attard. In an oversight, the email was also sent to Attard’s namesake, a Labour councillor on the St Julian’s local council. Vella’s programme, the daily TVHEMM, was taken off air three days before its scheduled termination.

“According to the Public Service Management Code, there are only four reasons why a job can be terminated. These are on the individual’s own request, a request for his dismissal from PBS, a promotion in the Public Service or a call for his return from the department were he was originally deployed,” Vella said.

Vella said that in the case of redeployment, none of those who had left the immigration department had been replaced by other employees.

Vella concluded his evidence by commenting that within a month after leaving PBS, the station took on board a number of new employees. “While I am not challenging their abilities, everyone knows their political tendencies. These include Brandon Pisani, Dorothy Falzon, Rodney Vassallo and Charles Sacco – all of which are Labourites. Others were taken onboard from One News and Where’s Everybody. There are some who are paid a salary of €21,000 annually, given €2,000 in allowance and €60 daily for a morning programme. Moreover, one journalist has been seconded from MEUSAC,” he said, referring to TVAM presenter Norma Saliba, a former PBS journalist herself.

The case continues on 3 October.