Television personality John Bundy said yesterday it was Interior Ministry chief of staff Silvio Scerri who ordered the termination of Norman Vella’s redeployment with PBS.

Mr Bundy told this newspaper he happened to be at the ministry at the time when he heard Mr Scerri issue the order for Mr Vella to be returned to his job at the Immigration Department.

Mr Bundy was contacted soon after Mr Vella testified before the Employment Commission that Mr Bundy told him he had seen and heard Mr Scerri order his transfer from PBS. Mr Vella said Mr Bundy gave him the information a few days after the last sitting and a request will be filed for Mr Bundy to be summoned as a witness in the case.

Contacted after the sitting, Mr Bundy confirmed what Mr Vella had said: “I met Norman Vella and told him not to continue blaming the Prime Minister or any other politicians because it was Silvio Scerri who took the decision and I heard him with my own ears because I happened to be there at the time.”

Mr Scerri, on the other hand, made a categorical denial but would not comment further for the time being.

The commission is hearing the case that Mr Vella, the former presenter of TVHemm, instituted against Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and the Principal Permanent Secretary, Mario Cutajar, claiming political discrimination in the way he was re-deployed from PBS to the Immigration Department.

I heard him with my own ears

Mr Vella said this confirmed what he had been told internally at PBS, that Mr Scerri had been putting a lot of pressure for him to be removed from PBS.

Mr Vella said that a few weeks after he was sent back to the Immigration Office, PBS saw a large influx of people, especially journalists who previously worked for Labour’s television station, One.

He mentioned, as a particular example, how TV presenter Norma Saliba was seconded from the Malta-EU Steering Action Committee with a €21,000 salary, €2,000 in allowances and a payment of €60 per TVAM programme she presented every morning.

He also mentioned journalists Brandon Pisani, Rodney Vassallo and Owen Galea, with the latter joining after having held the post of communications coordinator for Labour MP Franco Mercieca when he was Parliamentary Secretary for the elderly.

Mr Vella said that when he learnt that his redeployment to PBS was being withdrawn he spoke to PBS chief executive Anton Attard, board member Frank Portelli and chairman Tonio Portughese, who all confirmed that the decisions were being taken “from higher up”.

During his testimony, Mr Vella also told the commission of how Dr Muscat had threatened him during a meeting in the presence of Peppi Azzopardi, the presenter of Xarabank, Malta’s most watched talk show, and members of the Labour Party.

According to Mr Vella, Dr Muscat said: “For every attack we feel that is directed at the Labour Party, I will retaliate with twice as much force, with all my might, below the belt, where it hurts.”