The police are looking into the latest twist in the Dalligate story after it emerged that former European Commissioner John Dalli flew to the Bahamas just as the EU probe about him was escalating.
“We are looking into these latest claims in light of our voluminous investigation file on the case,” Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit said, adding that the police investigation had never really been closed. The investigation was never closed. We only close an investigation when there is a final court sentence. When I commented on the position of Mr Dalli in June, I had said that we felt there was not sufficient evidence to substantiate charges against him,” he noted.
The police were not aware of the trip and neither was the EU’s anti-fraud agency (OLAF), which conducted the original investigation that forced Mr Dalli’s resignation in October.
Like the police, OLAF said it was looking into the new information, suggesting it could reopen the case.
Mr Zammit had said that, after reviewing the case with the Attorney General, it was decided there was not enough evidence to proceed in court.
Speaking on TVM’s programme Dissett, Mr Zammit had said the OLAF investigation on Mr Dalli was an administrative one for which much less proof was required than when holding a criminal investigation.
His comments come in light of a report by the International Herald Tribune on Monday claiming that Mr Dalli travelled to the Bahamas from Cyprus and back between July 7 and 9, 2012, to “move millions” on the Atlantic Ocean archipelago, renowned to be a tax haven.
Yesterday, Mr Dalli claimed the information was provided to the Herald by a disgruntled client of his daughter.
The former European Commissioner boarded the flight to Nassau the day after he called his former canvasser, Silvio Zammit, who had been interviewed by OLAF as part of the original investigations.
Shortly after that phone call, Mr Dalli called Brussels to see if he could get out of a dinner that evening being hosted by Cypriot Commis-sioner Androulla Vassillou, according to a Commission source who spoke to Times of Malta anonymously.
Mr Dalli was told it would be impolite not to be present, given the short notice, and eventually he decided to attend.
But the day after, he boarded a flight to Malta, from where he started the journey to the Bahamas and back to Cyprus on July 9, where he was expected for a conference a day later.
Mr Dalli insisted to Malta Today yesterday that the trip to the Bahamas had been planned about three days before the phone call between him and Mr Zammit.
The newspaper said Mr Dalli produced e-mails – which were not published – suggesting that the bookings for the trip were made on July 3, a day before Mr Zammit was first interviewed.
He boarded a flight to Malta, flew to the Bahamas and then back to Cyprus
He also denied that he had admitted to the Malta police in December that he and Mr Zammit had discussed the OLAF investigation in the July 6 phone call, contrary to what he had told investigators from the EU anti-fraud agency.
When Times of Malta asked him about this on Tuesday, Mr Dalli said: “How do you know what I told the police? Now you must tell me how you know this from the police?”
Asked again about what he had told the police, Mr Dalli said: “No, no, I am asking you. I won’t speak to you anymore... you are telling me that the police told you... I am going to stop here...”
This newspaper sought the reaction of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat who, last month, appointed Mr Dalli to head a body to oversee the reform of Mater Dei Hospital, however, no response was forthcoming at the time of writing.
mmicallef@timesofmalta.com