Top brass at the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra must pay the price for having ignored allegations of sexual harassment, the PN said on Wednesday. 

PN MP Julie Zahra, who serves as the party’s spokesperson for Culture, noted that MPO management had failed to act after receiving reports that an orchestra member had sexually harassed a colleague. 

The matter eventually reached the police, who pressed charges. The MPO member, who cannot be named under court order, admitted to inappropriately touching a woman and was given a suspended sentence earlier this week. 

Speaking on Wednesday, Zahra noted that nobody at the MPO, or Culture Minister Owen Bonnici, had assumed responsibility for the failings that were clear in this case. 

The MPO’s CEO, Sigmund Mifsud, was aware of the allegations but did nothing about them, she said. 

“We would have expected management or the minister to investigate and take the necessary disciplinary action against those who were informed of the allegations but did nothing about them, especially in a case concerning sexual harassment,” Zahra said. 

“It’s especially shameful to see a culture of impunity even in serious cases like this. A person had to quit their job because of the harassment,” she added. 

The PN MP urged anyone facing such harassment to report it to the authorities and use support structures set up for such cases.