He bases his attack on the fact that Joe Zahra, an investigative consultant to the programme, has been arraigned for spreading false information about corruption in the Mater Dei equipment tender award.

Allow me to set the record straight.

Joe Zahra was an investigative consultant to the programme. His function on the programme was never editorial or executive. We were his clients like hundreds of others, including ministries, government entities, businesses and private individuals. What he was arraigned for in court has absolutely nothing to do with his work on Bondiplus. I never had reason to doubt his work on the programme and, obviously, I bear responsibility for every edition. Nevertheless, I accepted Zahra’s resignation from the Bondiplus team the moment he was arraigned.

Now to the two Bondiplus programmes in question. The first, aired in January, focused on the awarding of the Mater Dei equipment tender. The programme dealt exclusively with public allegations of impropriety made by SIMED, the losing tenderer, and by the MLP. The programme never went into the report that Joe Zahra is being arraigned for, as John Dalli knows very well.

The second programme referred to by John Dalli, aired in June, dealt with allegations about the connections between his ministry and his family’s ties to the Iranian shipping firm and Tourist Resources Ltd. He says that “it may not be coincidental that… this case (the Mater Dei tender) was again brought up” in this programme. This is a gross distortion of the truth. It was John Dalli who brought Mater Dei up in this programme, not me. Yet, even so, no reference was made to the report that Joe Zahra has been arraigned for.

Given that Dalli has chosen to attack this particular edition of Bondiplus – after which, incidentally, he resigned – I am obliged to divulge the following facts. First, Dalli tried to have us postpone it. We did not. Second, he wanted us not to air features about past allegations of corruption – Daewoo, the sale of HSBC and the Mixer Ltd, a company owned by his brother Bastjan. We did not bow to this pressure either. Third, we scrupulously researched every past allegation. We even checked each case with him and rectified every inaccuracy we found. So much for John Dalli’s allegation of our lack of integrity and professionalism. Fourth, John Dalli made no complaint after either programme that we had treated him unfairly.

I have worked as a journalist on PBS under three different administrations and five company chairmen. Pjazza 3, Rasimbras, Bondicini and Bondiplus have always been at the top of the popularity ratings and won numerous awards for excellence and professionalism. In over a decade of televised journalism, I have never been accused of political partiality or imbalance by the Broadcasting Authority, let alone found guilty. Even a completely unjustified boycott by a political party failed to break our back and served to increase our ratings until it was unceremoniously withdrawn. This is my track record.

Yet last Sunday, John Dalli saw fit “to question the policy of PBS to give access to the national station to marketing and other consultants who may be using these facilities to manipulate public opinion in favour of their clients”. Perhaps I should remind John Dalli of one episode he might have forgotten.

In the run up to the PN leadership race in which he was a candidate, Dalli objected to the airing of the results of a Xarabank survey on the subject. A meeting was held at his ministry with representatives of the programme and PBS. At the meeting, representing John Dalli’s campaign for the PN leadership, was Saviour Balzan, the MaltaToday editor. At the time, Balzan was also producing and presenting the programme Reporter for the PBS gentlemen across the table. How is that for a textbook case of a PBS journalist having a conflict of interest and manipulating public opinion? Incidentally, weeks ago I called Saviour Balzan a liar in print and invited him to sue me. He still hasn’t.

I did not kick John Dalli when he was down and I am not about to start now. When he resigned, I wrote that it was a pity that this country was losing a capable minister because of one fundamental fault in his character: lack of judgement.

His unwarranted attack on Bondiplus last Sunday confirms my assessment.

Editor’s note: This article appears as a Right of Reply to last Sunday’s story entitled John Dalli: I am shocked under the terms of the Press Act.