Silvio Scerri ‘sheds bad light’ on home affairs ministry - Bundy

In his response to libel proceedings instituted against him by home affairs chief of staff Silvio Scerri, TV presenter John Bundy insists he never made any false allegations in his regard

John Bundy and Silvio Scerri are locked in a feud over comments the TV presenter passed on to Norman Vella
John Bundy and Silvio Scerri are locked in a feud over comments the TV presenter passed on to Norman Vella
Norman Vella
Norman Vella

TV presenter John Bundy today hit out at home affairs ministry chief of staff Silvio Scerri, as he defended his decision to spill the beans on the latter’s alleged decision to redeploy former TVM presenter Norman Vella bacj to his orginal civil service posting in the immigration department; and claiming amongst others, that Scerri’s libel action against him is “shedding a bad light on the home affairs ministry and its decision.”

In June, Silvio Scerri, the home affairs ministry’s chief of staff, filed a libel suit against TV presenter John Bundy, after the latter told former TVHEMM presenter Norman Vella that it was Silvio Scerri – and not Prime Minister Joseph Muscat – who was behind Vella’s termination of his presenter’s role and his subsequent redeployment to the immigration department at the Malta International Airport.

Vella is an immigration official who benefited from unpaid leave to work in broadcasting, before he was redeployed to his original posting.

The statements were made by Norman Vella in the Employment Commission’s tribunal, and were further confirmed by Bundy himself in comments to The Times. Bundy corroborated Vella’s statements and has publicly declared he has no problem in appearing before the courts “so the truth comes out.”

In a reaction to the libel proceedings, John Bundy argued that his comments were made during a private conservation between himself and Norman Vella – and not during a public speech.

“The only requisite necessary for a libel action to subsist is that the alleged defamatory comments be made in public. Since this is not the case, the libel action will not be successful,” Bundy’s lawyer Robert Abela held.

Notwithstanding this, Bundy held that if the comment is “substantially correct and true,” the libel suit cannot be successful.

 “I never made any false allegations. I only recounted what I had seen and heard – Silvio Scerri talking about Norman Vella during a phone call – in a private conservation with a third party (Norman Vella),” Bundy said.

Bundy also held that he never intended on “publishing or bringing the conversation between him and Bundy to the public eye,” and claiming that he never did anything wrong.

“With this action, he [Silvio Scerri] is negatively influencing the decision to redeploy Norman Vella. If Scerri considers such a decision as being correct, then the comments would have never tarnished his reputation – irrespective of whether it was himself or any other ministry official who took the decision,” Bundy said.

“Until today, no courts or tribunal have branded Norman Vella’s redeployment as wrong, and moreover, there is nothing indicating that the decision was wrong. Consequently, Silvio Scerri is shedding a bad light on the home affairs ministry’s decision and the ministry itself.”

Bundy also took exception at Silvio Scerri for not filing libel proceedings against TimesofMalta – the newspaper with whom Bundy confirmed Norman Vella’s comments.

Lawyer Robert Abela is representing John Bundy.