Court dismisses orchestra CEO's request to testify again in harassment case

A court has turned down a request by former Malta Philharmonic Orchestra CEO Sigmund Mifsud to testify again in the compilation of evidence against him in which he is accused of discouraging a woman to file a police report following sexual harassment by an orchestra employee.

Mifsud’s lawyer Mark Vassallo told the court that Mifsud wanted to testify again to clarify something from his previous testimony, specifically about his relationship with the victim and a former male employee.

Magistrate Gabriella Vella turned down the request, saying this was not allowed by law. She said that the nature of Mifsud’s relationship with the victim and the former employee had been tackled in his testimony – in July 2025 – and she believed that he wanted to take the witness stand again to rebut the claims that emerged by other witnesses after he took the stand.

Mifsud stands accused of tampering with evidence in the case, which involved a male MPO official, who admitted to sexually harassing a female staff member, who resigned over the abuse. There is a media ban on the male official's name. Mifsud is pleading not guilty.

Sigmund Mifsud’s testimony in July

 In his testimony in July last year, Mifsud denied instructing employees to stay quiet about a sexual harassment allegation involving two colleagues.

He said the male official was a musician who later joined another department and was a dedicated worker, being promoted within a year. Mifsud said he had a good working relationship with him.

Mifsud said the male official and the victim had a close friendship and would socialise together outside work. He described the victim as initially an organised and calm person, who even babysat for his family. He remembered paying for her to stay in a hotel when she fell ill with COVID-19.

However, Mifsud said things "started to fall apart" after a tour to the UK was cancelled in late 2022. He said he noticed a sudden change in the relationship between the victim and the man. The victim started showing signs of emotional distress at work and would have "tantrums" in his office.

It was during one of these episodes that she first mentioned sexual harassment.

According to Mifsud, she claimed: “When I told you [the male official] harassed me, you did nothing.”

He said this was the first time he heard of the allegation, which referred to an event that had taken place two and a half years prior.

'Huge surprise'

 He said it was "a huge surprise" because the pair had previously been "the best of friends". He and the official were behind her doing something and the official touched her on the shoulder. She reacted by saying: “Not that, not that.”

Later, Mifsud said he asked her to come to the office for something unrelated, and she said that this also constituted harassment.

He said he then called in the male official and told him not to joke around at work. He described how, around this time the male official was up for promotion.

Mifsud denied ever telling anyone to cover up the complaint and said no official reports were made to him at the time.  

He said that when she brought it up a second time, he told her to file a report if it was true, "so we can proceed".

She also claimed the male official had touched her shoulder. Mifsud reprimanded him for being inappropriate, but did not issue a formal complaint.

Mifsud said that after the victim's resignation, which was emailed rather than delivered in person, the ministry began investigating.

He said he was "shocked" and went to speak to the woman.

"It was a calm discussion. I asked her if she was sure about her decision. My concern was the damage the allegation could do to the orchestra. I asked her: 'Are you aware of what you’re doing?'

"Mifsud said she offered to withdraw the report.

"I told her: 'Don’t remove it. only do that if you’re certain about what you’re doing.'"

Her resignation did not mention anyone by name.

During cross-examination, Mifsud was asked about recordings in which he could be heard telling the male official to keep a consistent version of events. He was asked if it was ethical for him to speak to someone who was going to be arraigned. Mifsud said it was a "moment of great darkness" for him and he felt 10 years of work was collapsing around him. He said he started seeing attacks coming in against the orchestra.