Enough evidence to indict orchestra chief Sigmund Mifsud over alleged tampering in sexual harassment case

There is enough prima facie evidence to indict the CEO of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) over allegations that he had suborned witnesses from giving information on an alleged criminal act, a court declared on Monday.

Magistrate Gabriella Vella, who had presided over Monday’s case through a video conference link, declared that there is sufficient evidence to issue a bill of indictment against Sigmund Mifsud, the orchestra CEO.

Prosecuting inspector Gabriel Micallef testified in court on Monday, giving a timeline of events since a member of the orchestra had accused a senior official of the MPO of sexually harassing her. The senior MPO official - a 31-year-old man from Gozo who cannot be named by court order - was placed under a restraining order earlier this month, as well as a suspended sentence, after admitting to having sexually harassed the former orchestra member.

The victim had filed a report in November at the Valletta police station, alleging sexual harassment in the workplace. She told the police that the harassment had started in the first weeks that she had started working with the orchestra. The senior official would massage her shoulders and slowly move his hands down to her lower back, just above her bottom, the court heard.

“She told me that she wasn’t comfortable with this”, Micallef said. The first time it happened she said it was making her ticklish, while other times she would turn her body around as soon as he moved in for the massage.

The senior official would explain this behaviour by saying that he was arranging her posture.

In a separate incident, this official had grabbed her bottom while she was talking to someone else, the officer said. He had walked away after doing this.

During a separate farewell party, the senior official had pulled her top down and exposed the top part of her chest, the court heard.

The victim had went on to report these incidents to Mifsud as CEO of the orchestra, the officer said. She had showed him messages that the senior official had sent her, including photos. However, Mifsud had told her to delete these messages from her mobile, but told her that action would be taken, the officer said.

But the harassment didn’t stop after she spoke with Mifsud.

On top of this, Mifsud started speaking to people working in the MPO about these allegations in a bid to stop her from filing a police report, the court heard.

When the victim had submitted her letter of resignation, the orchestra’s human resources chief had drafted an email to be sent to the permanent secretary. However, he had wanted to speak with Mifsud before sending the email, the court heard. When they met, Mifsud had instructed him not to send the email to the permanent secretary, and said that he would speak to the victim one-on-one, the court heard.

He had further held a meeting with several high-up officials in order to discuss this. “He said if there’s a chance to speak to her and convince her not to file a report, it would be better.”

Another meeting was also held with musicians. Mifsud is alleged to have told them that anyone who speaks out about this case will be considered complicit.

While the police were investigating the case, they had found several Whatsapp chats between Mifsud and another high-up official in the orchestra. They had sent voice messages to each other, whilst trying to prepare a contingency plan and to make sure that the harassment allegations do not become public, the court heard.

The police had went on to arrest Mifsud on 4 November and took a statement from him. During questioning, Mifsud had refused to answer to several questions. He was evasive on other questions, the officer said.

After Micallef’s testimony, the prosecution had requested transcripts of Mifsud’s police statement and of recordings taken by the victim, which she had saved on a pen drive.

Lawyer Edward Gatt, representing Mifsud, insisted that the defence reserves its position on the admissibility of the recordings, and will tackle the validity of the recordings “at the opportune time”.

The magistrate nominated Lennox Vella to draft the transcript of the police statements. She said that she will nominate someone to draft transcripts on the recordings at the next sitting.

She also nominated court expert Keith Cutajar to carry out a complete data extraction on exhibited devices, as well as conducting a profile on the mobiles exhibited and a cross-match analysis.

Inspectors Gabriel Micallef and Kevin Pulis prosecuted. Lawyers Edward Gatt and Shaun Zammit were counsel to the defence. Lawyers Ilenia Agius and Joseph Gatt appeared parte civile.