Update 2 | ‘Situation at Broadcasting Authority a constitutional crisis’ – PN

The chairperson of the Broadcasting Authority Tanya Borg Cardona has been engaged to serve in the unit handling Malta’s presidency of the EU on a position-of-trust basis, the Times of Malta reported, in a move that could be illegal.

Employed in February 2016 through a government contract to work within the Ministry for EU Affairs under deputy prime minister Louis Grech, her salary scale 6 remuneration of €27,269 comes in addition to her €20,000 a year honorarium as non-executive chairwoman of the broadcasting regulator.

But as she is appointed to chair the constitutional body, the Constitution itself states that members of the Broadcasting Authority cannot be public officers. According to the Constitution, Borg Cardona can only be removed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Reacting to the report, Alternattiva Demokratika chairperson Arnold Cassola wrote to President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, calling on her to remove Borg Cardona from her post as chairperson of the Broadcasting Authority, if the allegations are confirmed.

“On behalf of Alternattiva Demokratika, I am writing to you as the guardian of our constitution to remove Borg Cardona from her instittui9onal post if the allegations made by the Times of Malta are confirmed,” Cassola’s letter read.

Nationalist MP Clyde Puli (left)

On the Opposition’s part, Nationalist MP Clyde Puli said the situation inside the Broadcasting Authority had now become a constitutional crisis.

Addressing a press conference in front of the BA offices, Puli said that Borg Cardona’s conflict of interest, together with industrial action by BA employees, was not allowing the authority to carry out its constitutionally defined function.

“We have a chairperson who was given a constitutional role by the Prime Minister, one that requires impartiality. At the same time she was given a position of trust role that doesn’t require any scrutiny,” he said 

Asked whether the PN was excluding filing constitutional proceedings, Puli said that nothing was being excluded at this stage. “I have tried to appeal to her sense of decency but she does not seem to realize that she must go. I am now appealing the Prime Minister, who knows what he’s doing and who knows her position is untenable,” he said.

Puli insisted as the one to have installed her in her role, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat must be the one to remove her, while once again insisting that her two roles were not compatible and constituted a gross conflict of interest.

“It is unbelievable that Borg Cardona still retains her role given her lack of qualifications, incompetence in broadcasting and lack of management skills, as evidenced by the fact that she has managed to turn all her employees against her. She has managed do something without precedent. She has managed to turn all her employees against her,” he said.

€6,000 car allowance

Borg Cardona also receives a €6,000 car allowance each year to keep using her personal car for official purposes – instead of making use of the official authority cars. The authority confirmed that Borg Cardona is paid €6,000 annually “representing an all inclusive allowance and on condition that the personal car is used for all official duties by Chair.”

However, Borg Cardona pays for other expenses such as fuel, licence fees, insurance and maintenance of her Jaguar SUV.

Since Borg Cardona took over as chairperson in early 2016, the Constitutionally-appointed authority has acquired a new vehicle – a Toyota Avensis – but the chairperson makes use of her personal vehicle for official business despite having two company cars, a Renault Megane and the new Toyota, at her disposal.

Asked why Borg Cardona doesn’t make use of the authority’s two vehicles, a BA spokesperson said “one vehicle is an office car presently used by the CEO. The other vehicle for official use by management and staff.”

The spokesperson also said that the leasing agreement was discussed at board level. The agreement is similar to the one which sees Prime Minister Joseph Muscat receive €7,000 to keep using his Alfa Romeo instead of making use of an official car, as his predecessors did.

In recent weeks, the embattled Borg Cardona has come under pressure from the authority’s employees who are calling for her resignation. On Wednesday employees started unprecedented industrial action following claims of abuse and bullying by Borg Cardona.

On Friday, represented by Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM), the employees attended a mediation meeting but an impasse was reached after the authority’s lawyer Ian Refalo proposed that the chairwoman’s role will be limited to a non-executive one. But UHM pointed out that the law already stipulates that the BA chairperson is a non-executive role, insisting that they had no guarantee that the alleged bullying would stop.

Workers have also written a letter to the Prime Minister demanding that the removal of the chairperson he appointed last year. While pointing out that Borg Cardona is unsuitable to chair the authority because she has no competence in the field, employees highlighted a number of instances in which they say they were bullied and insulted by the chair.

An employee recounted an incident in which Borg Cardona threw the personal belongings of one employee into a bin and sent an e-mail to all staff boasting about what she had done, warning them that they would get the same treatment if they did not follow her orders.

In a statement published in the wake of these accusations, Borg Cardona denied bullying claims and abuse of public funds and blamed the standoff on a lack of communication.

“The allegations regarding bullying are not true and are the result of misunderstandings or lack of communication among individuals in the authority,” she said.

“In any event the Authority rejects in the most categorical way any allegations of irregularities and reserves its position in this regard,” she said.

Last year, the BA spent nearly €3,500 to cover the expenses of Borg Cardona’s trip to Stockholm for the Eurovision Song Contest, the first time a chair of the authority has travelled to the contest.