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| TOP NEWS | Sunday, 12 August 2007 UTV fracas: Former director to sue priest for libel Who said God’s way was plain and rosy? The former director of UTV, Edgar Bonnici Cachia, will be suing the owner of the Christian television station Dun Gwann Farrugia for libel for what he considers “defamatory and insulting remarks” made about him.
Speaking to MaltaToday, Bonnici Cachia said he felt insulted by Fr Farrugia’s remarks to this newspaper that he did not deliver on his promises. The former director, who resigned from the station just a week after it started broadcasting its religious programmes schedule last month, will also be suing Fr Farrugia over “a defamatory email” the priest sent him about DVDs of Dun Gorg Preca. In the email, Fr Farrugia reminds Bonnici Cachia about DVDs about Dun Gorg filmed during the Vatican ceremony, which were supposed to be issued under the UTV label but have so far not materialised. Individuals have paid deposits for the DVDs while Bonnici Cachia had also sought the sponsorship from private companies to produce the documentary. While writing that he had no “hard feelings” against Bonnici Cachia, Fr Farrugia wrote in his email: “We at UTV don’t want to have anything to do with your DVDs unless you pass on all the profits made from these DVDs to UTV.” Bonnici Cachia replied by saying he had no idea when the DVD would be ready but he would pass on all profits to UTV, adding that he resigned from station director after realising he was going to end up as “the station’s clown”. The former director added that he felt offended by the way Fr Farrugia was treating him after having forked out his personal money for the station’s service. “I am a person of integrity and I would never channel profits (of someone else) towards myself,” he said. “I am rich enough and I don’t need someone else’s money. But when you do good you get paid with evil deeds. … It’s not my wish to enter court but my lawyer describes your letter as defamatory.” Totally financed by Fr Farrugia himself with a capital investment of around Lm0.5 million – mostly inherited – UTV started its first broadcasts from Luqa last month on the Go digital terrestrial television platform with a mission “to spread God’s word and help people in need”. Speaking to this newspaper last week, Fr Farrugia said about Bonnici Cachia: “All I can say is that he promised to deliver lots of things and when I reminded him of that he did not like it.” Bonnici Cachia told MaltaToday that he was crucial in getting virtually all the advertising that is being broadcast on UTV. “This is the kind of gratitude you get for giving all those hours of work and forking out my money towards his station,” he said. Bonnici Cachia had another equally brief stint with Hamrun Spartans in 2002, where he only spent a total of six weeks in office.
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NEWS | Sunday, 12 August 2007 PN support in Gozo in free-fall Bortex fires Maltese, hires Chinese Forget the bedpans, let’s talk travel plans… ‘Our pharmacy licences are now safe and more valuable than ever’ AFM calls off search for missing migrants Musicians give hope to immigrants Mangion stands by Pender Place sale Mangion stands by Pender Place sale European gays appoint Maltese activist as policy officer Ostreopsis not an alien species Rockers, relax – cult programme will be back MMA official bluffed with junior to corrupt him Mistake paves way for Marsa hazardous waste incinerator PBS schedule ‘turned into auction’ UTV fracas: Former director to sue priest for libel To Gozo, and beyond Rector wants a ‘Gozitan Lourdes’ in Ta’ Pinu The road to Smart City – over 600m of tarmac through arable land |