Former European Commissioner John Dalli felt no need to disclose his Bahamas trip to Brussels’ top brass, despite revealing yesterday that the charitable initiative he was helping set up was a multi-billion dollar commercial operation with philanthropic aims.
If I have done something criminal because I did not inform them, let them tell me
Asked if he felt he should have informed the European Commission of his travels and participation in discussions of this entity, Mr Dalli said he had a right “to do these things, even as a Commissioner” and argued that this latest controversy was merely “political hype” orchestrated by Brussels.
He was speaking at a press briefing, in which he fielded questions about the latest revelations concerning his travels to the tax haven between July and September of 2012 and revealed that he had met Prime Minister Joseph Muscat the day before.
During the “amicable” meeting with the Prime Minister it was agreed that there would be no change to his recent appointment as head of a reform board for Mater Dei Hospital, he said.
The latest controversy surrounding the former minister comes eight months after he was forced to resign as EU Health Commissioner following an investigation by the EU’s anti-fraud agency.
In his first extensive reaction to the International Herald Tribune story that revealed his trip to the Atlantic Ocean archipelago, Mr Dalli reiterated that he was involved in discussions on the setting up of a charitable organisation.
However, he also gave more details on the project and revealed the extent of the initiative, saying the whole project ran into billions of dollars.
He said the individuals behind the idea were a large network of Christian evangelic philanthropists who wanted to pool together to set up a fund which would invest in African commercial activities in farming, mining, oil and energy with a view to pour back substantial parts of the profits back into underprivileged places like Niger, Ethiopia, Ghana and even Malta.
He said he could not disclose any more details because of “professional secrecy” and other issues. European Commissioners are not meant to exercise a profession “whether gainful or not” and are expected to declare, according to the Code of Conduct.
The only activity that commissioners can conduct without first seeking approval are to deliver lectures connected with EU integration or European interests.
According to Mr Dalli’s own account, he was staying at a villa in the Bahamas rented out by a company to host mostly US businessmen in discussions over a wide range of “philanthropically oriented” business deals.
When it was put to Mr Dalli that he should have declared the trip and his activities to avoid the sort of suspicions that this latest revelation now raises, the former Commissioner said: “No, I did not feel the need to inform the Commission. Now, if I have done something criminal because I did not inform them, let them tell me.”
The European Commission is also contradicting Mr Dalli’s claim that he had informed his then Cabinet about the trip.
A spokeswoman for the Commission said Mr Dalli’s Cabinet was not given any information about the trip and was not logged into the then Commissioner’s diary.
Asked about this, Mr Dalli insisted this was not true because a member of his Cabinet had seen the boarding pass for part of the July trip to the Bahamas.
The Sunday Times of Malta is informed Mr Dalli had accidentally passed on a boarding pass, indicating a flight between Nassau and London Heathrow Airport on July 8 along with a batch of boarding passes for flights in which he had been on official EU business and which he intended claiming expenses for.
When the staff member queried the Bahamas boarding pass, Mr Dalli took it back, as he had passed it on by mistake and did not intend claiming expenses for it.
However, a Commission source said nobody from Mr Dalli’s Cabinet was aware of any other details of the trip, or knew what the former Commissioner had travelled to the Bahamas for.
Still, on the basis of this incident in which he passed on the Nassau boarding pass by mistake, Mr Dalli insisted yesterday that he had informed his Cabinet.
“The end result is that the Cabinet knew,” he said.
mmicallef@timesofmalta.com