The head of the EU’s anti-fraud agency yesterday lifted the lid on testimony given by two former members of John Dalli’s cabinet, who said the ex-European Commissioner had enquired about the possibility of lifting the ban on snus during two cabinet meetings.

Giovanni Kessler told a court that Mr Dalli’s former chef de cabinet Joanna Darmanin, and cabinet member Paula Duarte, had testified during the course of a separate investigation related to Mr Dalli’s unauthorised travels to the Bahamas when he was commissioner.

He said the ex-commissioner had raised the snus matter in cabinet on January 24 and February 28, 2012.

Silvio Zammit, accused of trying to elicit multi-million euro bribes from Swedish tobacco producers, on the way to the law courts.Silvio Zammit, accused of trying to elicit multi-million euro bribes from Swedish tobacco producers, on the way to the law courts.

Dr Kessler was testifying in the case against Mr Dalli’s former canvasser Silvio Zammit, who is accused of eliciting bribes from Swedish snus producers in return for getting the EU-wide ban on the tobacco product lifted.

The case was investigated by OLAF in 2012 and the final report was the basis on which former European Commission President José Manuel Barroso forced Mr Dalli to resign from the Commission.

Mr Dalli yesterday denied any wrongdoing and accused Dr Kessler of perjury (see box). He later asked the Police Commissioner to take action against the OLAF chief.

Dr Kessler said the OLAF interviews with Ms Darmanin and Ms Duarte took place during the summer of 2013 but OLAF only passed on the information with a request for further investigation to the Attorney General in Malta a year later.

OLAF investigator Alberto Potenza testified yesterday that the information was passed on to the Maltese authorities a year later because the Bahamas investigation was still open. “In fact it is still open,” he said.

Stressing the importance of the fresh evidence obtained from Ms Darmanin and Ms Duarte, Dr Kessler said the timing of the cabinet meetings was “crucial”. It coincided with the period when Mr Zammit was dealing with company officials from Swedish Match, a snus producer.

Mr Dalli had met Swedish Match’s Maltese representative, Gail Kimberly, on January 6. The meeting was organised and attended by Mr Zammit and the subject under discussion was the snus ban.

Dr Kessler described Mr Zammit as “the golden key” since through him Swedish Match and Estoc, the snus lobby group, had direct access to Mr Dalli.

Mr Zammit gave them direct access to the Commissioner and he was not just boasting

“Mr Zammit was bingo,” Dr Kessler said, adding the snus lobbyists knew it was not possible to have informal, undocumented meetings with Commission officials. “Mr Zammit gave them direct access to the Commissioner and he was not just boasting.”

During Dr Kessler’s more than three-hour testimony, Mr Zammit could constantly be heard saying that the witness was lying. At one point Mr Zammit said the testimony put “Pinocchio to shame”. And in a brief moment of defiance, Mr Zammit even pulled out his middle finger when Dr Kessler was asked to identify the accused in court.

Dr Kessler gave a point-by-point blow of the Olaf investigation that started in May 2012 when the agency was asked by Catherine Day, general secretary of the European Commission, to probe allegations made by Swedish Match.

The OLAF chief said a recorded phone call in which Mr Zammit asked Inge Delfosse from Estoc for €10 million in exchange for a proposal to lift the snus ban being put on the table represented “a turning point” for the investigation.

The phone call was played in court and Mr Zammit is heard telling Ms Delfosse that “we are prepared to meet anywhere you want, between the mountains, on the ice... even the moon”.

Dr Kessler said the phone call took place on March 16, 2012. Ms Delfosse had contacted Mr Zammit seeking a meeting with Mr Dalli because there were rumours the review of the tobacco directive was nearing closure.

Mr Zammit allegedly told her a change in the proposal will “cost you” but cut short the conversation, telling her he would call back in 10 minutes.

Dr Kessler said call logs analysed by OLAF showed that during this interlude Mr Zammit phoned Dr Kimberly and Mr Dalli.

After 30 minutes Mr Zammit called Ms Delfosse with the bribe request. Ms Delfosse recorded this conversation.

Dr Kessler pointed out that at no point in time was Mr Dalli’s name or designation ever mentioned and the one time Ms Delfosse let slip the name “John”, Mr Zammit avoided answering.

Mr Zammit said a face-to-face meeting between his and Ms Delfosse’s bosses would come at a cost of €10 million as a first instalment.

In February, when he was still dealing with Swedish Match, Mr Zammit had told Dr Kimberly and company representative Johan Gabrielsson the cost for getting a proposal on the table was €60 million.

Dr Kessler said when Olaf confronted Mr Zammit with the reference to “my boss”, his answer was that he only had one boss and this was God.

The request for a bribe made to Estoc was the same as the one Mr Zammit had made to Swedish Match, Dr Kessler said.

In the phone call, Mr Zammit is heard telling Ms Delfosse the risk was very high considering there were a lot of people against lifting the snus ban.

“Obviously when you have a high person working in favour of it he is risking... The companies will make a lot of profit,” Mr Zammit had said.

When Ms Delfosse told him she was shocked and had hoped to win the issue without having to pay because the snus producers had a scientific case to make, Mr Zammit answered back: “Everything has a price... they [the snus companies] will get richer and richer and what about me and you?”

Dr Kessler noted that every time Mr Zammit made the bribe requests it was always immediately after meeting or talking to Mr Dalli, which gave OLAF reason to believe the former commissioner may have known what was happening.

When cross examined by the defence, Dr Kessler said former Police Commissioner John Rizzo had told him in December 2012 that Mr Dalli would be charged but they were waiting for him to come to Malta.

Mr Dalli only returned to Malta after the March 2013 election having presented sickness certificates to the police for three whole months.

Dr Kessler said he heard through the media that the new Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit had declared on TV there was no case against Mr Dalli.

“I met Peter Paul [Zammit] at an Interpol conference some months later and asked him about the Dalli decision and he [Mr Zammit] told me the investigation was still ongoing and it was all a case of miscommunication,” Dr Kessler said.

Following OLAF’s investigation, Mr Kessler had concluded there was “circumstantial evidence” to show Mr Dalli was aware that Mr Zammit, a friend and former canvasser, was using his name to solicit a bribe.

Mr Dalli has vehemently denied the charge and has even instituted a court case before the European Court of Justice contesting his forced resignation.

The case against Mr Zammit continues on May 21.

Dalli accuses Kessler of perjury

John Dalli has accused the OLAF chief of manipulating facts when referring to the testimony given by two of his former cabinet officials.

In a statement circulated to the media midway through Giovanni Kessler’s court testimony – this was being relayed live by the major news portals – Mr Dalli described the revelation as “a new fabrication”.

“I am following Kessler’s testimony with disgust at the manipulation of facts... The dates stated by Kessler are invented to coincide with his theory of meetings,” Mr Dalli said.

Mr Dalli noted that on February 28, 2012, when he was supposed to have queried lifting the snus ban, he had signed off with his cabinet the parameters on which the health directorate based its impact assessment for changing the tobacco directive.

“These parameters included a ban on snus and all smokeless nicotine products. This is documented and can be verified. This is perjury and I expect the police to take action,” Mr Dalli said.

He later sent a letter to the Police Commissioner asking him to urgently take the necessary steps against Dr Kessler for lying under oath.

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