Relief at PBS as CEO is shown the door

Aqra bil-Malti

News of the departure of PBS Executive Chairman Mark Sammut was celebrated by staff at the state broadcaster, as they were informed he would not be returning to his office after his long summer break in Florida.

Multiple PBS employees told The Shift that many took a short break to celebrate the ‘good news’ as soon as the first reports started appearing on social media.

Describing Sammut as “a dictator”, worse than those who ran PBS at the time of Xandir Malta in the 80s, they recounted Sammut’s reign of insults and intimidation, which led to some 30 veteran and experienced employees leaving the station during the past two years.

“I have never experienced such an arrogant man,” a veteran technician told The Shift, recounting how Sammut once called him “dog’s shit” in front of his colleagues.

Others recounted how the chairman, handpicked by Prime Minister Robert Abela, ordered his employees to call him Mr Chairman.

He treated women disrespectfully and sent several employees home, leaving them nothing to do but still paid fully through PBS funds.

“We have never seen some of the employees in the past two years, as the chairman told them not to report to their office anymore. Yet they remained on the payroll,” a senior manager said.

A former adviser to former EU Commissioner John Dalli, Mark Sammut switched to Labour as soon as disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat became prime minister.

Through a number of direct orders, his private IT companies started to receive government contracts, particularly from the health ministry. At the same time, he was appointed to various boards, including Transport Malta.

Soon after Robert Abela became prime minister, Castille selected Sammut to run PBS, even though he had never stepped inside a TV studio and had no experience in broadcasting.

Meanwhile, the government significantly increased its subsidies to PBS, reaching some €6 million annually. Still, this was not enough.

According to the latest published accounts for 2023, PBS declared a loss of some €40,000. The previous year, PBS recorded a loss of over €1.5 million.

A financial controller recruited by Sammut to try to put things in order left after six months. Sammut promoted a DJ to act as a financial controller instead.

According to employees, clashes between Sammut and senior staff members were the order of the day.

One spiralled publicly. Sammut clashed with Norma Saliba, the head of news, and ordered her relocation outside the company. Saliba was given a new position with a financial package of over €73,000 annually at the Centre for the Maltese Language, which was essentially created for her.

At the time, Robert Abela had sided with Sammut, dumping Saliba.

PBS sources said Sammut’s end started during the electoral campaign for the MEP elections when several staunch labour employees began sending messages to the prime minister that they would not be voting, citing Sammut as the reason.

Some even put their voting document on social media to drive the message home.

The Office of the Prime Minister took the hint soon after Abela’s unexpected result at the polls.

The Shift has been informed that Abela asked Culture Minister Owen Bonnici to find a new PBS CEO. Bonnici didn’t deliver.

Last week, an OPM official contacted Sammut, telling him not to return to his office and that his contract would come to an abrupt end this month.

Sammut received the OPM’s go-ahead to renew his contract for another three years as recently as last March.

So far, it is not known whether Sammut will also be paid a golden handshake to leave without a new dispute.

Minister Owen Bonnici confirmed that Sammut will no longer be at PBS and that a search for a new CEO is ongoing.

In recent years, PBS has been reduced to a government propaganda station, with lucrative contracts paid to friendly producers and journalists.