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Allegations of fraud at PBS

The Public Broadcasting Services, which has continually been dogged by bad publicity, is currently reeling from a fraud investigation cut short by news that the prominent legal adviser who was conducting the investigation had a conflict of interest.

The investigation into the allegation of fraud in the advertising section at PBS appears to have been aborted by the Board of Directors following the revelation. The matter was being looked into after it was discovered that the original contract concerning the financial news on PBS had been allegedly fiddled, removed from file and destroyed.

The contract was then apparently replaced by a false copy with the aim of giving an advantage to a third advertising agency, which allegedly had good contacts with an official at the advertising department.

The plan was thwarted since somebody, wisely enough, had a photocopy of the original contract with the relevant signatures, thus foiling the attempt of alleged corruption.

The person carrying out the original investigation was sidelined following some comments he made to one of the witnesses, while the investigator proved to have some professional contacts with a person under suspicion of other cases.

The Fraud Squad is now reportedly expected to be called in to investigate the matter.

Things have not been easy at PBS in recent times and do not appear to be getting any easier. The recruitment of staff aimed at revamping the adverting section at PBS does not seem to be working, with the projected increases in advertising failing to materialise. Furthermore there are doubts about a number of contracts which allegedly are not being honoured by those who "signed" them.

Some advertisers have also been complaining that their competitors are being given special packages, which the Board of Directors have not approved of.

The Chairman is known to have expressed his concern about certain practices at the advertising section of PBS by which adverts are being cancelled and thus not paid for, yet still being broadcast on TVM.

The possibility of alleged collusion between certain top-advertising administrators, PBS employees and advertisers and agencies, is not being ruled out. It is a known fact that various employees at PBS have close contacts with advertising agencies - two agencies in particular.

Sources at PBS have expressed their disappointment that they always seem to spend more time fighting abuses by certain ‘officials’ there rather than being able to make a fruitful contribution. The same officials said that most of the problems at PBS are inflicted by people working there who do not have public broadcasting at heart, and are not loyal to the company that employs them. Rather than seeing PBS as their bread and butter, they see it as a cow to be milked dry.

In the meantime further discussions have been held in connection with the restructuring at PBS. However, it appears that most employees are against the conditions being offered to them.

On the other hand, various other employees see the early retirement being offered as a discrimination against those who have given solid service to the company and rewarding those that have always resisted reforms and work at PBS.