In affidavit to tribunal, PBS manager told of sexual harassment from Bundy

A junior manager at the Public Broadcasting Services told the industrial tribunal hearing former CEO John Bundy’s unfair dismissal claim, that in separate incidents he had sexually harassed her and “compelled” her in providing her with minutes from the PBS board of directors.

Although unclear whether any sexual harassment claim was filed against Bundy, the junior manager detailed two separate incidents pertaining to inappropriate behaviour by Bundy.

Bundy has previously denied the allegations when confronted by a government official, and when first confronted by MaltaToday in 2017 with a written request for comment, he did not reply. This is the first time an official document detailing the complainant’s allegations is made public.

In a sworn affidavit dated 6 November and presented to the tribunal that heard Bundy’s successful claim for unfair dismissal, the executive said that at one point in May 2017 Bundy had attempted to kiss her.

“I was in his office, when he pressed me to the wall and kissed me on my lips. I pushed him off and I called him ‘mignun’ and said I knew his wife and that I am not a bitch to do this to another woman.”

In another incident which she recalls was a Saturday afternoon during which she helped out in the organisation of the Junior Eurovision contest, “he had asked me to make him a coffee and he crept up behind me in the kitchen and kissed me on the lips and tried to force himself on me. I pushed him off onto the fire extinguisher.”

Tells manager to take board minutes

The affidavit also reveals other behaviour from Bundy which the junior manager claims was intended at enabling actions which she believed were inappropriate, such as obtaining access to the chairman’s office, cover up internal cameras, and make copies of board minutes taken from the office.

The manager said that in November 2017 – after the PBS board had passed a vote of no-confidence in Bundy and ordered an internal audit by RSM of his procurement decisions – Bundy had entered her office asking her for the board minutes.

Bundy was then facing possible sacking by the PBS board over a €400,000 car leasing deal with Burmarrad Commercials, for which he had wilfully ignored PBS procurement rules. He had already lost executive powers to spend money after the board passed the no-confidence motion.

The manager said the minutes had been set aside for when the auditors visited, inside the chairman’s office. “Bundy asked me if I had the keys. He asked me to open the door of the chairman’s office. I felt that he was trying to rope me in purpose, so as to have me complicit in his actions. I say this because Bundy is aware there are internal cameras, so he wanted me to be there with him, compelling me to involve myself in his actions.”

The manager said that prior to this incident, he had already asked her to climb up a ladder and cover the internal camera in the chairman’s office. “I don’t know why he had done this.”

The manager said she was very uncomfortable but felt she had no option but to comply when she fetched the chairman’s office keys from the reception to open the office for Bundy. She said Bundy specifically asked for the October 2016 minutes, for which she then made a copy and left the office.

30 minutes later, Bundy returned to her office demanding access to the other minutes form 2016 and 2017, for which the manager complied by taking out the files and giving them to Bundy.

“At this point, I was very panicky and anxious and I took my mobile and rushed downstairs outside the building. I phoned the deputy chairman Albert Marshall from the car and told him that I was being bullied by the CEO and what the CEO had made me do. I was crying on the phone and Mr Albert Marshall tried to help me calm down.”

When she returned upstairs, Bundy asked her to copy the last page of a file which stated that the company car with licence plate PBS 900, be transferred to the procurement manager.

“Mr Bundy told me that he hoped I had not phoned anyone and that I had not told anyone of what he had made me do. I told him I had not. I then put away the files and locked the chairman’s room.

In another incident in October 2017, Bundy appeared to caution the underling as she brought him his morning coffee at 9:30am. “‘You had better worry about your own job rather than about taking someone else’s job, because you might lose it’,” the manager claimed. “‘Your job is there [pointing to my office]. I know you’re in the web of [deputy CEO] Charles Dalli, Andrew Buckwell and [corporate services manager] Edmund Tabone. God forbid I learn you’re in Dalli’s web… if I finish here, you’re finished as well.’

“I felt this was a threat,” the manager said in her affidavit.

Confidential PBS audit

John Bundy was handpicked by the Muscat administration to become CEO of PBS in August 2016. His initial management foray saw him instantly embarking on a mission to change an outdated PBS car fleet, but in the process he ignored procurement rules and committed PBS to an expensive €400,000 eight-year deal with Burmarrad Commercials.

Although he started the process to collect company quotes in October 2016, the PBS board was only informed of his plans in January 2017, where he was asked to review procurement guidelines.

Bundy was also told back in September 2016 by PBS management that he had to issue a public tender for the fleet replacement, but the CEO claimed he had ministerial approval – a claim later denied by the ministry.

A subsequent audit by RSM, carried out between October and November 2017 at the request of the PBS board of directors, found that Bundy rubber-stamped the deal in February 2017 with Burmarrad Commercials.

However the PBS board only learnt of the deal in June 2017, and by August 2017 the started enquiring about the profligate spend on the car leasing deal. The subsequently curtailed his powers to spend with a vote of no-confidence, and finally sacked him after the RSM audit.

The audit came on the back of an investigation by the Department of Contracts on the illegality of the car leasing deal.

“The CEO’s decision to request quotations was in violation of the PBS procurement procedures,” the RSM audit said in its conclusions. “In this case where the cost was going to exceed both the €120,000 and €250,000 thresholds it was

necessary to issue a tender that was to be administered by the Director of Contracts, in view of the amounts involved.

“The CEO did not inform the BoD of the process being followed, the discussions and decisions being made and the agreement entered into with the selected leasing supplier. Accordingly there is no BoD decision approving the lease of vehicles.”