Bondi+ to discuss judges' case

This week Bondi+ is back on the screens of PBS for the second year running.

Hosted by Lou Bondì, who also produces the programme, it will be broadcast every Tuesday after the 8 p.m. news on TVM.

The series, which caused quite a few ripples last year when it tackled hot issues such as security in places of national strategy, is not shying away from controversy this time round. Rather, it will be courting it by tackling the summer's hot topic in its first edition by discussing the alleged bribery case of the ex-Chief Justice Dr Noel Arrigo, and Judge Patrick Vella.

Usually, television producers shy away from discussing ongoing court cases, and even guests have been known to decline to comment, because of the sub judice convention intended not to influence the outcome of the case.

Over the years this transmuted into what Bondì calls a "self-imposed apartheid" where "journalists found it convenient to avoid discussing ongoing cases". This first programme does not intend to be bound by this convention in tackling an ongoing case.

Bondi+ found itself in the law courts this year when the police arraigned Jeremy Camilleri, one of the programme's presenters, for breaking into the Hagar Qim temples - for the second time - to highlight the lack of security in this World Heritage Site.

The main guests on the first programme on Tuesday will be Justice Minister Austin Gatt (who happens to be Bondì's first cousin) and Professor Giuseppe Mifsud Bonnici, a former Chief Justice and former Judge at the European Court of Human Rights.

"I put journalism before family ties," the producer insists. "And I have no qualms asking uncomfortable questions to Minister Gatt. I work within a small society and problems are bound to crop up".

The core team of Bondì, Debbie Attard Portughes, Charlotte Bonavia and Jeremy Camilleri has been strengthened with the addition of Tonio Bonello, who produced the award-winning Il-Kaz, as well as private investigator Joe Zahra. More focus will be placed on work carried out outside the studio.

As a partner with the production house Where's Everybody?, Bondì insists: "We just love what we do, and judging by Broadcasting Authority surveys, the audience does too."

Bondi+ is aired every Tuesday on Television Malta, at 8.45 p.m.