Dalli cleared, made PM consultant

Former Cabinet Minister John Dalli was yesterday appointed a consultant to the Prime Minister on matters related to the economy, competitiveness and negotiations.

The appointment was announced during a press conference given by the Prime Minister together with Mr Dalli.

Dr Gonzi said it had resulted that allegations made against Mr Dalli in three issues were false. The allegations were over a contract for the local representation of an Iranian shipping line, the tender for the purchase of equipment for Mater Dei Hospital and the procurement of air tickets for the Foreign Ministry. Dr Gonzi said the claims concerning the first two issues had long been proven to be false and action had been taken in court against a person who fabricated the report about medical equipment.

The only outstanding issue was the purchase of air tickets.

The Prime Minister said he had written to the Auditor-General on July 7, 2004 and asked him to investigate the purchase of airline tickets by ministries and government agencies to verify whether the proper procedure was being implemented and to conduct a benchmarking exercise to see whether the government was getting the best value for money.

Dr Gonzi said he had asked the Auditor-General to treat the matter as urgent.

Last July, three years after the initial letter, the Prime Minister had again written to the Auditor, after Dr Sant had spoken in Parliament about the case saying the Auditor's report was still in limbo.

Dr Gonzi said he was informed that the Auditor's report had been concluded but could not be published because the Auditor had been advised he could not sign it as his term of office had expired.

Dr Gonzi said both he and Dr Sant had asked the Auditor to keep running the office until a successor was found, but the legal advice the auditor had was that he could not sign the document.

Dr Gonzi said he had written to Dr Sant four months ago with a list of possible candidates for the post of Auditor and Deputy Auditor but Dr Sant had failed to reply.

The appointment of Auditor-General needs a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

Asked what his reading was of Dr Sant's delay in replying, Dr Gonzi said it was anybody's guess why Dr Sant was taking so long.

"The facts speak for themselves but I was not willing to leave this matter hanging just because there was no reply from Dr Sant."

He said the government had acted with caution and waited for investigations to be concluded before speaking out about these cases, unlike the opposition which tried to make political capital and hurl mud without bothering to see whether there was any shred of truth in the allegations.

Dr Gonzi said it was the government who truly had a zero tolerance for corruption as it investigated cases and where people were found to have done wrong, they were taken to court.

As Mr Dalli had been cleared, Dr Gonzi said the government wanted to continue to make good use of his valuable services and following discussions with Mr Dalli it was decided that the best way he could contribute was by being appointed a consultant.

Mr Dalli said he had set up a consultancy firm after resigning and he could not leave everything behind him to take up public office.

His resignation at the time was inevitable as he could not continue working in the face of such "institutionalised blackmail".

Businessmen who lost tender bids were regularly going to the opposition who made an issue out of it instead of looking at the national interest.

"The opposition is happier believing fraudsters and people who invent stories to destroy the credibility of politicians," Mr Dalli contended.

He said he was about to sue the Dutch company SIMED and their local representatives for damages.

The Dutch company had commissioned the report and it was they who tried to stall the tendering process for the purchase of medical equipment for Mater Dei Hospital, he said.