Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/882846
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2017 4 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 It will also provide an independ- ent avenue for ascertaining whether Bundy should be sacked, after Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this week it was up to the PBS board to take that decision. The €500,000 car deal, which included cars for both Bundy as CEO, and also the PBS's former head of news Na- talino Fenech – who since his departure in 2013, has been seconded to the University of Malta – was never green-lit by the board. The issue was only raised at board level back on 18 January, 2017, when Bundy referred to the PBS car fleet. "[He] noted that the cars were now old. He had sought advice on whether to buy new cars or go for leas- ing, and found that it was cheaper to go for leasing." Bundy was said to have used a procurement method only employed for minor purchas- es, by obtaining three quota- tions from leasing suppliers. The person actually respon- sible for procurement, cor- porate services manager Ed- mund Tabone, was completely side-lined. Last week MaltaToday re- vealed that the PBS's board of directors had actually voted on a motion of no confidence against Bundy. The secret vote delivered a unanimous verdict of no confidence, which was com- municated to chairman Tonio Portughese. But ultimately, it is minister Owen Bonnici who would have to assume respon- sibility for Bundy's dismissal. Bundy was installed in his po- sition without any formal call for applications for CEO, after the departure of Anton At- tard, on a four-year contract. In their letter to Portughese, the board said they had con- vened to discuss the way Bun- dy "had, on several occasions, ignored the board of directors and taken decisions which required the approval of the board". The board said it consid- ered Bundy's attitude towards the PBS directors as one that showed a lack of respect. "Worse than that, it shows a lack of awareness of what the relationship should be be- tween a CEO and the board of directors, which in terms of the law have enormous per- sonal responsibility for eve- rything that happens in the company." The directors said they were also faced with legal threats from companies when they attempted to reverse Bundy's "arbitrary decisions". "These decisions were pre- sented to the board as a fait accompli, and the directors were faced with threats of le- gal action against them per- sonally and the company." The directors said they could no longer tolerate the situa- tion and declared they had no faith in Bundy. News PBS directors threatened with legal action after trying to reverse Bundy's "arbitrary decisions" PBS Chief Executive John Bundy has lost the confidence of the board of directors, a letter to the Chairman seen by MaltaToday confirms YANNICK PACE A STUDY carried out by au- diting firm KPMG on behalf of the Malta Developers As- sociation has concluded that there is no property market bubble. According to Mark Bam- ber, the study's author, there was no sign of a "sup- ply glut", nor was there evi- dence suggesting that price increases were not being matched by an increase in demand. Addressing a press con- ference during which an overview of the study's findings was given, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat thanked the MDA for tak- ing the initiative in carry- ing out the study while em- phasising the importance of policy makers having the necessary information to informed decisions being taken. "Let's be clear, there would have been a resistance to a study like this in the past," he said, adding that had the study found that there were serious problems with the industry, it could have im- pacted confidence in the industry and the economy. Muscat noted that the study found that the af- fordability of housing had increased in recent years and pointed out that devel- opment and affordability were two sides of the same coin. Despite this, he said that the story was different in the rental market since people were still having to deal with a situation where their rent has exploded overnight. He said that in the forth- coming budget, the govern- ment would be announcing what it felt was the way for- ward in this regard, adding that the government want- ed the MDA to be a stake- holder in this way forward. He said that while the current administration un- derstood that investors de- served a return on their cap- ital, abuse by people "trying to make a quick buck" could not be accepted. The Prime Minister also stressed that rather than a bubble, the study had shown that the market was being driven by strong eco- nomic growth and demand. He insisted however, that despite the sector's strong performance, the govern- ment would continue offer- ing incentives aimed at in- creasing home ownership. MDA-commissioned study finds "no property bubble" AN amendment to the Public Administration Act, that will see a parliamentary commit- tee scrutinise the future ap- pointments of ambassadors and the heads of various regu- latory entities, would be con- ferring more powers to parlia- ment and in so doing, would also strengthen the country's democracy, according to jus- tice minister Owen Bonnici. The amendments would ap- ply to authorities including the Central Bank, MFSA, Trans- port Malta, Planning Author- ity, Malta Tourism Authority, Medicines Authority, Financial Intelligence Unit, as well as a number of others. Speaking in parliament yester- day, during the second reading of the amendments to the Pub- lic Administration Act, Bon- nici said that during every leg- islature, the government of the day passes laws that effectively "change the world we live in". Through the proposed amend- ments, Bonnici said the govern- ment was taking a "right that it had, and sharing it with the rest of the house". He added that this was not an easy decision to take, but insist- ed that democracy did not move forward "by coincidence". "We don't want the letter A+ to only be associated with the country's economic perfor- mance and its job creation, but rather we wanted this excellence to spread across how we admin- ister our democracy," said Bon- nici. Bonnici said he had always wondered when Malta would reach the stage where appoint- ments were opened to public scrutiny. Bonnici said that the proposed amendments had been consid- ered a step in the right direction by most commentators. On the other hand, he said that those who were against the move, were "missing the wood for the trees". He rejected suggestions that the committee was useless be- cause it had no power, noting that all parliamentary commit- tees functioned in this way. He stressed that it was a require- ment for committees to reflect the government's parliamentary majority and that every MP was capable of asking pertinent and important questions, irrespec- tive of whether they were gov- ernment or opposition MPs He also stressed that the pro- posed changes being introduced would allow for the questions asked to be made public and would also allow the committee to make its recommendations to the minister. "I wonder which minister would go against the recom- mendation of a committee," said Bonnici. "That a committee can give a written recommendation is a big step forward." Replying to the minister, Op- position MP and former justice minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici urged the government to accept amendments being put forward by the Opposition since the law in its current format was not good enough. Using the United States as an example, Mifsud Bonnici point- ed out that the country's democ- racy was good enough to offer people in Malta the "privilege" of following their committee proceedings. A public hearing, he said, would also ensure that the min- ister would be more cautious in selecting a candidate, insist- ing that any minister who had chosen the best man for the job, should be able to rest assured that that person would be able to get through a public hearing. "We are either going to have the guts to implement for proper scrutiny or we should not have any scrutiny at all," he said. Furthermore, he said there was no need for the final decision to be the minister's, irrespective of the recommendation made. "If you say a minister would be crazy to press forward then why does the law allow him to do so," said Mifsud Bonnici. Parliamentary scrutiny of appointments will strengthen Malta's democracy - minister