(Adds Simon Busuttil's statement)

John Dalli was free to continue living a lie if he so wanted "but he should not draw  me into his lies", Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this evening.

He was reacting to a statement issued earlier this afternoon by the former EU Commissioner John Dalli who called on Dr Busuttil to explain his friendship with the director general of the European Anti-Fraud Office Giovanni Kessler.

Olaf’s investigation of Mr Dalli following allegations that he had had tried to push for the ban on snus to be lifted had led to his resignation.

Mr Dalli said in his statement that, for the sake of transparency, Dr Busuttil should tell the Maltese:

"1. “How was this relationship (between Dr Busuttil and Dr Kessler) struck and nurtured?

a. Were they in contact in official business?

b. Do they attend the same “clubs”?

c. Are they members of the same “groups”

"2. Whether this friendship was of long duration or was it a relationship that developed recently?

a. Did this close friendship exist when Kessler took upon himself to conduct the investigation of the Swedish Match Allegations?

b. Were Simon and Giovanni such close friends when the Malta Police were being pressurised by the Office of the Prime Minister in December 2012 to take action against me at all costs? [as reported in the Malta Today of the 16th December 2012]?

c. Where Simon and Giovanni such close friends when Giovanni was advising a Swedish Match employee who is one of the main actors of the setup against me to continue to spread a false story not to disturb the investigation in Malta?

d. Were Simon and Giovanni such close friends when Simon embarked on a massive campaign of political interference accusing the Prime Minister (not on facts but on suspicion – as is his style] of interfering in my regard. This was an overt attempt to intimidate the police and to continue the hate campaign against me?

e. Were Simon and Giovanni such close friends when Giovanni gave an interview to a Croatian Newspapers repeating Simon’s diatribes of political interference? In fact, this Croatian piece was prominently reproduced in Simon’s newspaper even if they said that the origin was Hungarian [I wonder who translated the piece for them!!!].

f. Were Simon and Giovanni such close friends when Kessler collected the false evidence of Joanna Darmanin and Paola Duarte, and decided to send it to the Police in Malta without [in his own words] checking it or investigating it. When Giovanni had said that he had sent information to the police, Simon put on his crusading armour and accused the police of breaking European Law for not acting on this information.

"3. Can Simon – or Giovanni for that matter – give us details of the meetings they had since Giovanni was appointed DG OLAF, the context of the meetings, and whether minutes were kept of these meetings?"

JOHN DALLI SHOULD NOT DRAW ME INTO HIS LIES - SIMON BUSUTTIL

In his reply, Dr Busuttil said it seemed that for Mr Dalli, betraying his own party and causing untold damage to Malta's reputation in Brussels was not enough.

"He now wants to fabricate lies about me."

Dr Busuttil said:

"Let me make this clear. My so-called 'friendship' with Giovanni Kessler, the Director General of OLAF, is a figment of John Dalli's imagination. Still less did I ever attend the same 'clubs' or 'groups' as Mr Kessler, as John Dalli alleges.

"I spoke to Mr Kessler for the first time ever last week when I happened to take the same flight as him to Brussels. He was returning to Brussels after giving evidence in Court in Malta, whereas I was flying to Brussels to attend the EPP Summit.

"If John Dalli wants to descend deeper into public embarrassment and continue to live a lie, he is free to do so. But he should not draw me into his lies," Dr Busuttil said

 

 

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