Opposition leader Simon Busuttil and outgoing European Commission president José Manuel Barroso were in John Dalli’s line of fire yesterday when he reacted to comments made in Parliament on Wednesday.
He accused Dr Busuttil – whom he again referred to as “Dr BS” – of being part of “this fraud committed against me”.
“I would like to know whether he was part of the fraud perpetuated in 2004,” he added, referring to a report, which eventually turned out to be fake, alleging he received kickbacks in connection with Mater Dei Hospital.
“I assure Dr BS that this time around I will not leave things lie as I did in 2004, when the then commissioner of police decided not to investigate who instigated and used Joe Zahra, the private investigator [who authored the report], who received a two-year jail sentence,” Mr Dalli added.
Now I feel that I am free from my obligation of confidentiality
Dr Busuttil asked Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia in Parliament whether Mr Barroso would be arrested too given that Giovanni Kessler, the head of the EU’s anti-fraud agency, OLAF, claimed that Mr Dalli had sent him a message telling him not to travel to Malta because he might get arrested.
Mr Dalli, a former European commissioner who resigned following an OLAF investigation into bribery allegations about an EU tobacco directive, said he had sent Dr Kessler no such message.
He said he had a witness to the conversations he had with the journalist who Dr Kessler says conveyed Mr Dalli’s message about his arrest, “including the unsolicited confession by Kessler that he knows that he did something wrong when interviewing [Maltese lawyer Gayle] Kimberly [about the bribery allegations] and that he was talking to [Lawrence] Gonzi”.
Referring to Dr Busuttil’s question in Parliament, Mr Dalli said: “I would say that [Barroso] should [be arrested].”
He asked whether Dr Busuttil was in Brussels on July 8 and whether he met Mr Barroso or anyone else from the Commission to discuss the issue.
Mr Dalli insisted he had nothing to hide about a second investigation by OLAF into visits he made to the Bahamas when he was commissioner.
“Now I feel that I am free from my obligation of confidentiality. I am considering publishing the correspondence that I have with OLAF... and to take further appropriate action,” he said.
He described the second investigation as just a media campaign organised by the Commission and OLAF to slander and intimidate him.
“Another conclusion that I arrive at is that Dr BS is part of this campaign. I do ask: why did Dr GK [Giovanni Kessler] have to write to the Speaker when he knew that the Privileges Committee sitting [in which Dr Kessler was summoned to appear] was put off? And why did he have to bring in the second investigation if not to throw mud?
“Dr BS should know, as he declared that he is a universal expert, that Kessler’s action is in breach of the obligation of confidentiality that binds him and that Dr GK insists on. Dr BS is mum on this.
“He is also mum after the statement made by Mr [Silvio] Zammit [facing bribery charges in connection with the tobacco directive] that he was offered a presidential pardon if he lied about me,” Mr Dalli said.