Malta Philharmonic Orchestra CEO Sigmund Mifsud urged top officials to try to convince a work colleague “to think twice” before going to the police to report the sexual harassment she was facing at work, a court has heard. 

Mifsud summoned the orchestra's top management team to a meeting last October and the agenda focused on the sexual harassment allegations over which an orchestra female employee had submitted her resignation letter. 

The victim claimed she was left with no option but to quit her job, allegedly telling Mifsud in one of her secretly recorded conversations with the CEO, that she was “tired and could take it no more”.

Mifsud denies charges of attempted tampering of evidence, using moral and/or physiological violence and causing the alleged victim to fear violence.

The allegations surfaced when the woman finally took her grievances to the police, sparking a criminal investigation, which led to the arrest of a 31-year-old Gozitan orchestra official who later admitted to the harassment.

In October the man, whose name was banned by the court upon arraignment, was handed a suspended sentence.

Investigations continued as police from the Valletta district questioned several other orchestra employees and also got a second declaration from the victim, who was assisted by her lawyer, said prosecuting inspector Kevin Pulis when testifying on Thursday. 

A female orchestra worker told police that Mifsud had instructed her to call a meeting for top management. 

When speaking to police on October 27, Shirley Farrugia Calleja said that meeting had been called “some three weeks ago”.

Asked about the agenda of that meeting, the woman had replied, “it was for us to convince [their female colleague] to think it through so that if she was acting out of revenge, she would not do it.” 

Police asked if that meant the CEO was piling pressure on them in such a manner that the alleged victim would not report the offence.  

“For us to convince her not to file the report... to talk to her so that she might think twice before going to file a report with the police… If there was a slim chance… to speak to her.”

Claims would 'damage the orchestra'

The orchestra’s financial controller and Mifsud’s second-in-command, Reuben Sammut, told police he knew about the allegations. 

Asked about that same meeting, he said Mifsud had told them about the victim’s resignation letter, describing the matter as “very serious” and one that would “damage the orchestra”.

He asked the attendees to speak to the woman so that she might alter her resignation letter and not go to the police, knowing that she trusted her colleagues and would go along with their suggestions. 

Asked directly whether he had tried to speak to the victim, Sammut replied: “No, no I didn’t speak to her because I felt that by doing so I would have been doing something wrong and I would have been obstructing justice.”

He felt the allegations were to be investigated. 

Investigators also checked the contents of the mobile phone of the official who had admitted to the harassment.

After checking the communication between the phone owner and Mifsud, police sought the advice of the Attorney General who said there was enough evidence to press charges against the CEO. 

On November 4, police summoned Mifsud who, minutes later, turned up at the Valletta police station. 

Assisted by personal lawyer, Shaun Zammit, Mifsud cooperated and provided the officers with the password to his mobile phone.

Friendship with perpetrator 

Running through its contents before proceeding with the questioning, investigators came across a series of WhatsApp texts and voice recordings between Mifsud and the perpetrator of the harassment. 

“There was a great friendship between the two,” said Pulis.

Those phone messages gave police a “clearer picture” as to why that management meeting had been called. 

The phone data was to be exhibited in evidence so that the court itself could hear the “raw” version of the recordings as police had done, the inspector said. 

Later that evening at the police station, Mifsud consented to release his statement after again being given his rights. 

Under cross-examination, Pulis confirmed that during interrogation he had not disclosed the names of the orchestra officials questioned earlier on by the police. 

Asked about recordings taken by the victim herself, Pulis declared that although he had known of their existence at the time of Mifsud’s interrogation, he had not personally heard them. 

He could only repeat allegations made by the victim herself when speaking to police, including a reference to one occasion when she pleaded with Mifsud to intervene, telling him she was “tired and could take it no more”.

The woman finally turned up at the Valletta police station on October 9.

The officer on duty testified on Thursday about her sexual harassment report wherein she claimed that a male co-worker had “touched her back, smacked her bottom and also sent her WhatsApp photos”.

The abuse had been going on since 2019 and she first spoke to the CEO about it on February 1, 2022, said PS Jean Paul Zahra. 

The alleged harasser had pulled down her top at a party and thrown “something” at her. 

But Mifsud told her that the man was drunk and not quite in his senses at the time. Mifsud told her perhaps she was exaggerating and was being “too sensitive”. 

Mifsud appeared to change his mind when she went back with more complaints in July, but later told her he had to consider the matter “from two viewpoints”.

Constable Mariah Bongailas, who drew up the sexual harassment report testified that the victim had sent her an email with screenshots of photos sent to her by her colleague along with her own account of the alleged ordeal. 

The case continues.

Inspectors Kevin Pulis and Gabriel Micallef are prosecuting. Lawyers Edward Gatt, Mark Vassallo and Shaun Zammit are defence counsel. Lawyers Roberto Spiteri and Ilenia Agius are assisting the victim.