John Bundy has won an unfair dismissal case he had filed before the industrial tribunal after he was sacked as CEO of the Public Broadcasting Services in 2017. 

The veteran presenter announced the verdict in a Facebook post. 

PBS will have to pay Bundy €226,500 in compensation as a result of losing the case.

Bundy was sacked by the PBS board after an audit had concluded that he had breached procurement regulations in a €500,000 car lease deal. The audit had also found that Bundy had “consistently bullied” the senior management. 

The popular presenter has always denied any wrongdoing. 

Former board director Frank Portelli had told the tribunal that Bundy had been given the go-ahead by the company's board to seek the lease of a new car fleet. 

A representative of Burmarrad Commercials – the company from which the 14 cars were leased - had said that negotiations with Bundy always took place in the presence of other management officials from PBS. 

The contract had been annulled after a public contracts review board had ruled that it was irregular and violated public procurement rules. PBS was subsequently urged to probe the contract and seek all legal action deemed appropriate.

The tribunal on Tuesday found, among other things, that Bundy's termination was based on an RSM report, a report whish noted certain inconsistencies in the testimony of people who testified against Bundy.

It noted that the RSM report mentions that the witnesses did not always agree, and that one of the people who compiled the report said that she could not begin to make heads or tails of who was saying the truth when asking who was present when and how the decision by Bundy was taken, and if he took the decision on his own.

The Tribunal noted that all people who attended the meeting that finally led to the vehicle leasing admitted that they held back from acting against what they condemned as they feared for their jobs.

"The Tribunal cannot understand how a unanimous vote of no confidence in an employee was done before the investigation procedures that led to the termination decision were still to begin. The main accusation was always over the car leasing that was not done according to a proper tender, but with quotations. This Tribunal believes that there were many people involved in this irregularity and notes that people in high positions had the chance to stop the process and that is why this Tribunal believes that the applicant suffered as a result of the shortcomings of many people."

The tribunal found that the termination was unjust.

Bundy had said in 2017 in the midst of this issue that the PBS board was playing judge and jury, and that the "clique" back then wanted to get rid of him.

Bundy had featured on an episode of Indepth way back in 2017 while the issue was still brewing.

INDEPTH JOHN BUNDY from The Malta Independent on Vimeo.