It’s up to PBS to investigate the allegations of misconduct brought to light during John Bundy’s industrial tribunal hearing, Minister Carmelo Abela said. 

On Tuesday, Bundy, who served as CEO of Public Broadcasting Services from 2016 till 2017, was awarded €226,000 from the Industrial Tribunal after winning an unfair dismissal claim filed against the public broadcaster. 

Bundy ended up serving 14 months of his five year contract and learned of a secret vote of no-confidence taken by board members in his leadership from media reports. 

During his testimony, Bundy revealed a number of dodgy dealings, including the fact that Malta had covered the Junior Eurovision expenses of four countries in 2016, and that PBS had run up a lunch bill of around €10,000 in two years. 

“As to certain points that came from John Bundy’s testimony in front of the industrial tribunal, I think it’s up to the (PBS) board to see whether there was justification for these occurrences or not, and whether that testimony can be corroborated with factual evidence that may be in PBS’s possession,” Abela said. 

“So I will leave it to PBS to see whether the allegations raised during Mr Bundy’s testimony merit further investigation or not.”

The PBS board was shaken up in September last year, when media expert and university professor Carmen Sammut was made chairperson. 

Former chair Tonio Portughese, who chaired the PBS board at the time of Bundy’s dismissal, was appointed chair of the Employment Relations Board in mid-January. 

Asked whether PBS had any intention of appealing the Industrial Tribunal’s decision, Abela said that the national broadcaster was still conferring on the matter. 

“I am informed that the PBS board is discussing this issue and is, right now, looking at how to defend the company’s best interests,” he said. 

“A decision by the current board, which has since changed, will be taken in the coming days.”