Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/900922
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2017 News 3 MATTHEW VELLA THE sacked Public Broadcast- ing Services chief executive John Bundy is suspected of having entered the chairman's office without permission, to take documents and make cop- ies of board minutes. MaltaToday is in a position to confirm that Bundy, sacked last week after an internal inquiry held by PBS auditors RSM, re- fused to explain himself when formally asked about this epi- sode by the PBS board. The board of directors realised that Bundy had admitted him- self into the office of chairman Tonio Portughese some time after the RSM inquiry presented its initial findings into an abu- sive procurement of company cars. The board had already in- formed Bundy in a previous written communication, not to take out any documents from the chairman's office, after hav- ing been witnessed entering the chairman's office. When this episode repeated it- self, the board requested Bundy again in a written communica- tion, to explain his unauthorised presence in Portughese's office, where he exited with a num- ber of documents as well as the company board's minutes. The minutes were placed back inside the room after he had made sev- eral copies of them. He did not reply to the written request. A request by MaltaToday com- municated to him via SMS to comment on the allegations was also not answered. Malta- Today is informed that a sworn testimony of the allegation was presented to the board of direc- tors. On Monday, Bundy was also reported to have authorised salary bumps of some €10,000, backdated some five months in promotions now being inves- tigated by the national broad- caster. The salary increases, without board approval, were allegedly made as Bundy faced growing pressure from the PBS board, that demanded his resignation. Bundy was ousted from his position at PBS last week after an audit report found he had broken procurement rules. The audit report found a "clear breach of procurement rules" both internally as well as the rules laid down in the Pub- lic Procurement Regulations. At the heart of the audit was an unprecedented €500,000 car leasing deal from Burmar- rad Commercials that Bundy was said to have carried out without seeking the green light from the PBS board. The director of contracts is now tasked to consider the 70-page audit's findings, and see whether they should be forwarded to the National Au- dit Office or to the police. Specifically, the audit report shows that only two weeks after he started in his role as CEO, Bundy, on 16 August, "intimated" with staff mem- bers about the procurement of a new car fleet for the televi- sion station. Later, instead of buying the cars, he negotiated the lease agreement, and an original nine-car fleet was replaced by 14 cars. One of them was his own car, a Peugeot 508. And while all cars had a Da- tatrak device to keep track of the vehicles, his car was the only one without the tracking device. Central to the audit was the revelation that Bundy had unilaterally secured a massive €500,000 leasing contract for motor vehicles carried out in breach of procurement rules. In minutes from a directors' meeting seen by MaltaToday, the politically-appointed CEO was said to have ignored con- tract rules when PBS signed 14 different contracts for a total of €500,131 to lease cars for the unprecedented duration of eight years. Bundy, a veteran television presenter hand-picked by the Labour administration with- out a public call, was said to have only once alerted the board of directors about the possibility of car leasing. But the contract itself was never green-lit by the board. Bundy was said to have used a basic procedure only em- ployed for minor purchases, by obtaining three quota- tions from leasing suppliers. In total, 14 different contracts were signed for a total value of €4,415 monthly, plus VAT: for the contract duration of eight years, the amount totals €500,131. The directors said that the leasing of cars for a period of eight years was "not considered as the norm". PBS's board of directors later voted on a motion of no con- fidence against Bundy, deliv- ering a unanimous verdict. In their letter to Portughese, the directors said Bundy "had, on several occasions, ignored the board of directors and taken decisions which required the approval of the board".ß Bundy made unauthorised entry in PBS chairman's office to take minutes John Bundy A thief who tied up an el- derly couple in their home in Tarxien this afternoon escaped empty handed, ac- cording the Police. According to statement released by the Police me- dia relations unit, a hooded thief, armed with a knife, entered the couple's home in Triq Sqajjaq in Tarxien at roughly 12:30pm. The robber proceeded to rummage through the cou- ple's belongings but left the house empty handed. The couple, aged 69 and 70, remained uninjured. A magisterial inquiry into the incident has been or- dered. Elderly couple tied up by thief uninjured The robber left the house empty-handed even after having securely tied up the couple