Minister shuns call for his resignation over handling of sexual harassment case at national orchestra

Owen Bonnici has admitted taking no immediate steps to temporarily suspend the national orchestra’s top brass when he became aware of sexual harassment claims last September.

But the Culture Minister said on TVM’s Xtra that when he had been approached by the victim on 6 September, he directed her to the gender-based violence commissioner.

“I directed the victim to the gender-based violence commissioner, which is the institution best-placed to deal with these issues,” he said. “I am informed that the commissioner followed up on the case.”

Bonnici refuted suggestions by Opposition culture spokesperson Julie Zahra that he should have suspended the top people immediately.

Zahra has called on the minister to shoulder political responsibility for his failure to act immediately and resign.

“The victim told me that she was under distress at work because of sexual harassment and the MPO’s administration was not doing enough to support her. The Opposition believes that this was enough for me to suspend the CEO but I preferred to refer the matter to the competent institutions and allow them to work,” Bonnici insisted.

He added that the victim resigned formally from work a few days later and repeated the sexual harassment claims in writing without identifying the perpetrator.

“At this stage, as is government policy on sexual harassment, our ministry saw the setting up of an external investigative board made up of two retired public officers and a psychologist,” Bonnici said.

He defended his actions and insisted the institutions did work in this case with police eventually charging the perpetrator, who admitted, and the CEO for tampering with evidence.

“The institutions did work and within a relatively short timeframe we had two people charged in court – one has admitted and the other is contesting the charges,” the minister said.

But Zahra reiterated the minister failed the victim when he did not protect her. “You let her stay there among these sharks, which she had to see every day and this prompted her to resign. Today, the perpetrators are suspended on half pay but the victim lost her work,” Zahra said, adding the minister was obliged to protect the victim.
The case involves a female member of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra who was subjected to repeated sexual harassment since 2019 by a 31-year-old Gozitan official at the orchestra.

The police charged the perpetrator at the end of October and the man admitted in court to the charges and was handed down a suspended sentence. His name cannot be published on court order.

Subsequently, last week, the police charged MPO CEO Sigmund Mifsud and accused him of tampering with evidence when he tried to suborn the victim from testifying. Mifsud pleaded not guilty and was remanded in custody.

Both men were suspended on half pay from the orchestra and an acting-CEO was appointed.