Home Affairs Ministry's chief of staff Silvio Scerri today denied that he had ordered the removal of Norman Vella from PBS.
He was testifying in court in proceedings on a a libel suit he filed against media personality John Bundy for comments made in a local newspaper.
Mr Bundy's comments to the media came after the testimony given by former television presenter Norman Vella in the Employment Commission. Mr Vella had testified in a tribunal that Mr Bundy told him he had overheard Mr Scerri say that he (Scerri) wanted Mr Vella out of PBS, a claim that Mr Bundy had confirmed to The Malta Independent, but which was denied by Mr Scerri.
"I didn't make any phone calls and was in no way involved at all in the Norman Vella question. Norman Vella, in front of the tribunal, did not call Mr Scerri up to testify". Mr Scerri again denied having anything to do with Mr Vella's redeployment.
"I'm assuming this was said to damage my reputation. It was reported that John Bundy met with Norman Vella at the airport and Bundy told Vella to blame no one as all of it was done by Silvio Scerri".
"John Bundy posted a number of blog posts aimed against myself and the Minister prior to this, but I can take a lot and so I didn't pay attention. There were attacks on me and I suspect that he did this as he wanted something from me that I couldn't deliver".
Mr Scerri said that he had met with John Bundy in a room, which was not his office at the Ministry, to discuss a possible programme for Bundy prior to all of this.
Mr Scerri argued that he was defamed, and his relationship with Norman Vella has been affected by John Bundy's statement.
In the cross-examination, Dr Robert Abela mentioned that it was Norman Vella who first mentioned Mr Scerri's connection to the case during the employment tribunal, however Mr Scerri claims he had not read the media reports on this issue.
When asked why he did not file a case against The Times for such a report, he said he did not feel the need to. Mr Scerri also said that he was contacted for his version only after the article was published however did not feel the need to give his side of the story.
Magistrate Depasquale presided over the case and Dr Edward Gatt appeared for Silvio Scerri.