PBS chief John Bundy hits out at ‘vile’ inquiry into procurement breach

PBS CEO John Bundy has reacted to an inquiry into a breach of procurement rules by hitting out at the PBS chairman and board of directors 

PBS chief executive John Bundy
PBS chief executive John Bundy

The embattled CEO at the Public Broadcasting Services John Bundy has hit out at chairman Tonio Portughese and the PBS board over an inquiry that shows he breached procurement rules.

Bundy negotiated a €500,000 car leasing deal in breach of PBS procurement rules, and a new audit by RSM appears to have confirmed the abuse.

In a Facebook post, Bundy hit out at the inquiry, details of which were published over the weekend, as “vile”.

“An independent inquiry about which I get to know about in the newspapers, of which everybody but me knows about,” he said, although news of the inquiry had already been published three weeks earlier.

“Tonio Portughese and your clique, shame, shame, shame. You’ve been wanting to get ride of me… vile. The so called PBS board met up in secret, carried out the role of judge, jury and prosecutor, and condemned me without calling in the accused, and then carried out an independent inquiry to see if I am guilty.”

An audit into the procurement of a €500,000 car leasing deal by PBS chief executive John Bundy has confirmed that procurement rules were broken and that Bundy “consistently bullied” his management.

The report by auditors RSM was commissioned by the PBS board of directors, who have demanded an independent verification of Bundy’s decisions after having taken a no-confidence vote against him.

The auditors said the deal was reached without approval of the board and that it was in breach of PBS procurement rules.

The €500,000 car deal, which included cars for both Bundy as CEO, and also the PBS’s former head of news Natalino Fenech – who since his departure in 2013, has been seconded to the University of Malta – was never green-lit by the board.

The issue was only raised at board level back on 18 January, 2017, when Bundy referred to the PBS car fleet. “[He] noted that the cars were now old. He had sought advice on whether to buy new cars or go for leasing, and found that it was cheaper to go for leasing.”

Bundy was said to have used a procurement method only employed for minor purchases, by obtaining three quotations from leasing suppliers. The person actually responsible for procurement, corporate services manager Edmund Tabone, was completely side-lined.

MaltaToday had revealed that the PBS’s board of directors had actually voted on a motion of no confidence against Bundy.

The RSM report also heard witnesses say that Bundy ignored warnings from managers against a hefty advertising barter for a free cruise for participants of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Bundy went into a vulgar outburst on being told that the advertising barter for a paid cruise holiday for the Eurovision contenders, would raise eyebrows. “He said ‘I don’t give a damn about the board’,” financial controller Brian Galea said in an affidavit.

A secret vote by PBS directors later delivered a unanimous verdict of no confidence, which was communicated to chairman Tonio Portughese. But ultimately, it is minister Owen Bonnici who would have to assume responsibility for Bundy’s dismissal.

In their letter to Portughese, the board said they had convened to discuss the way Bundy “had, on several occasions, ignored the board of directors and taken decisions which required the approval of the board”.

The board said it considered Bundy’s attitude towards the PBS directors as one that showed a lack of respect.

“Worse than that, it shows a lack of awareness of what the relationship should be between a CEO and the board of directors, which in terms of the law have enormous personal responsibility for everything that happens in the company.”