Bondì hits back over flak on his 'Libyan conversion'

TV presenter Lou Bondì has lashed out at newspaper l-orizzont for pushing the line that his business partner Silvio Scerri had “contracts from Gaddafi.”

On Monday l-orizzont reported that Scerri, the owner of Nexos Lighting, was responsible for the lighting arrangements during the celebrations commemorating the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya's 40th anniversary of its revolution back in September 2009.

In a right of reply which he circulated to all media, Bondì said the story inferred that Where’s Everybody was involved with people who have business in Libya. “This insinuation is a lie. Neither Where’s Everybody nor its subsidiaries or companies in partnership with Nexos and its shareholders Peppi Azzopardi, PJ Vassallo, Mark Vassallo and myself have ever individually conducted any business in Libya.”

L-orizzont’s item followed up a story in Labour organ Kullhadd last Sunday, which took umbrage at “Bondì’s hypocrisy” for hitting out at Labour candidate Joe Sammut, an accountant  who wired money from the Gaddafi family to US superstar Beyoncé for a New Year’s performance at an exclusive St Bart’s part hosted by Hannibal Gaddafi.

According to Kullhadd and l-orizzont, Bondì’s zealous ‘investigation’ on Sammut’s services to the Gaddafis was in contradiction of a previous edition of Bondiplus in 2009, when he showcased the economic opportunities available in Libya during an interview with the chairman of the Corinthia Group, Alfred Pisani.

Missing from the Kullhadd and l-orizzont stories was the specific mention that Bondì’s partner Silvio Scerri also happens to be a managerial consultant at One TV.

In his reply, Bondì claimed his follow-up on Sammut’s services to the Gaddafi clients was “made in the context of the United Nations sanctions”.

Answering to claims that he contradicted himself by “talking positively” of Corinthia’s Palm City in Libya in the 2009 programme, and now having condemned the Gaddafi regime following the UN sanctions, Bondì said: “Am I to understand that what you mean is that everyone who invested in Libya has done something wrong or is an accomplice to Gaddafi? On this matter you should consult Karmenu Vella, the chairman of the Corinthia Group [sic] who will be formulating your party’s electoral programme.”

Labour MP Karmenu Vella was formerly chairman of the Corinthia Hotels International.

In the ensuing exchange of blows between party, media and government functionaries, on Monday the Labour party hit out at the ‘hypocrisy’ of Malta Enterprise chairman Alan Camilleri, who spoke of the big reconstruction opportunities awaiting Maltese firms once “the Libyan crisis subsides”.

“Gonzi’s party and his former private secretary, Alan Camilleri, are zealous that Maltese firms win reconstruction contracts in Libya after the fighting is over, a zeal instigated by a difficult situation the Libyans are facing,” Labour said in a press statement.

Attacking the PN’s ‘hypocrisy’, Labour has tried to take mileage from Camilleri’s opportunism after Labour leader Joseph Muscat publicly suggested “taking advantage” from the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings in January, by attracting tourists to Malta instead, a suggestion that was criticised by the PN and the media.