John Dalli boarded a flight to the Bahamas tax haven just hours after he was allegedly alerted to a recording in which his former canvasser unsuccessfully requested a large bribe to help amend EU tobacco legislation.
News of the trip was broken yesterday by the International Herald Tribune. But the newspaper did not make any reference to the phone call between the former European Health Commissioner and his canvasser that took place shortly before Mr Dalli’s departure.
The Herald claimed Mr Dalli was in Nassau to transfer “tens of millions of dollars”, reporting the amount could have been as much as $100 million, though there has been no suggestion that the money is linked to the bribe request.
Mr Dalli has dismissed the newspaper report as a “blatant lie” aimed at tarnishing his reputation.
On July 6, 2012, Mr Dalli was in Cyprus attending a week-long programme of official activities to mark the start of the Cypriot Presidency. That day he called his former canvasser Silvio Zammit for an update on the investigation by the EU anti-fraud agency (OLAF), which eventually led to his resignation in October. The previous day Mr Zammit was interrogated for the second time by OLAF investigators after having stormed out of the first session on July 4 – the day when he was confronted with a recorded conversation he had with tobacco lobbyist Inge Delfosse; the central piece of evidence presented against him.
Mr Zammit had insisted OLAF was twisting the facts and he demanded access to a full transcript of the conversation.
In the most salient line of the recorded conversation Mr Zammit allegedly asked Ms Delfosse for €10 million to arrange a meeting with his “boss”.
A day after the interrogation, Mr Zammit received a call from Mr Dalli at 6pm and he told him about the interrogation.
According to a Commission source, shortly after that conversation Mr Dalli called Brussels asking if he could be excused from dinner – hosted by the Cypriot President at a country mansion – because he needed to fly back to Malta. The response from the office of the Commission’s general secretary Catherine Day was that although he was free to act as he pleased, it would be rude to cancel at such short notice.
Mr Dalli attended the dinner. However, on July 7, he boarded a flight to Malta arriving in Luqa at around noon before starting his journey to Nassau in the Bahamas via London Heathrow Airport. After spending not more than four hours in the Bahamas he returned to Cyprus on the evening of July 9, in time for an informal conference on the Mediterranean island the following day. When contacted, Mr Dalli, who was yesterday on his way to an anti-tobacco conference in Sweden, dismissed the Herald report as a “blatant lie”, saying he had flown to the Bahamas simply to give “advice” on “a voluntary basis” to unnamed individuals about the possibility of setting up a charitable trust fund. He said no money was transacted.
He pointed the finger at the Commission, saying that the Herald journalist who contacted him told him that “Commission staff were spreading a story about a visit I made to the Bahamas”. If true, he said this would show the Commission is still intent on casting shadows on his integrity and clutching at straws given recent developments.
He declined to say who was behind the fund or which project it would be committed to but said there may be developments in the coming weeks. He also said he had no foreign bank accounts other than one in Brussels which he used to deposit his salary when he was a commissioner.
He also rejected the allegation that his family had rented a villa in the Bahamas but said it was rented by a “company managed by my daughter”.
He did not explain fully why he made such a taxing trip, which involved some 50 hours of travelling, to discuss a project which in his own words “was still in its infancy”.
“That is how I operate,” he told Times of Malta yesterday. He said he had actually held meetings related to his trip on the aircraft, saying this was a planned trip.
On Tuesday, July 10, officials who convened for an informal health council attended by Mr Dalli noted he looked very tired.
mmicallef@timesofmalta.com
Different versions of July 6 conversation
The July 6 telephone conversation with Silvio Zammit is important because, according to sources, Mr Dalli had told Maltese police last December that he had told OLAF his former canvasser had not spoken to him about the ongoing probe.
Mr Dalli and Mr Zammit had in fact spoken on two occasions at key junctures of the investigation: the first time on June 17, when another suspect, Gayle Kimberley, alerted the Sliema restaurateur about the probe; and the second on July 6.
When Mr Dalli was first questioned by OLAF, he was asked if he had ever been told about the investigation by anybody else other than the anti-fraud office itself.
Mr Dalli said: “No, absolutely not. I have neither been contacted by anybody, nor taken initiative to contact anyone.”
Multiple police sources, however, confirmed that in December, Mr Dalli admitted to investigators that Mr Zammit had informed him about the probe. When asked about this yesterday, Mr Dalli did not deny admitting this to the police, but instead questioned where the information had come from.
“How do you know what I told the police? Now you must tell me how you know this from the police?”Asked whether this was the case, 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...
“I have to see how it is possible for someone to give evidence and then the police go to a journalist just as they did when they told you that they were going to charge me. I don’t think it was the police but the OPM [Office of the Prime Minister under the previous administration] that told you.”
Only last month new Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit declared there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Mr Dalli on the basis of the OLAF report.
The police investigation was sparked after the EU anti-fraud agency had concluded last October that although there was nothing linking him directly to the bribe request, there was unambiguous circumstantial evidence showing he was aware of it.
EPP spokeswoman says new evidence proves OLAF incompetence
One of the most vocal critics of the Dalligate investigation, Inge Grässle, yesterday said the new evidence continued to prove OLAF’s incompetence.
She said the revelations were “another surprising turn in a story full of surprises and turns”.
“The question is, when was the European Commission aware of this trip and its purpose?” Dr Grässle asked. “Were the tobacco-related allegations nothing but a pretext in order to keep a big story under wraps? Did OLAF, which apparently was unaware of this fact, allow itself to be used, and then botched everything with an amateurish investigation?” Due to its mistakes during the investigation, OLAF made a legal follow-up impossible”, Dr Grässle said, arguing that the “Bahamas story” should not distract from this fact.
“The question on how far the investigation against the former Commissioner adhered to professional standards, including breaches of basic rights and national law, as well as the early allegations launched, is still on the table,” she said.
It is imperative, she insisted, that the European Commission finally understand that this is about bringing more transparency into this case.
“This is only possible if it answers our questions on the Dalli case and its tobacco link, as well as the questions raised above,” Dr Grässle concluded.
Fresh OLAF investigation
The new information could trigger the reopening of the OLAF investigation into the case.
An OLAF spokeswoman told Times of Malta the anti-fraud agency “will duly consider any relevant new evidence, within its remit of competence”.
However, a Brussels source confirmed that the possibility was being actively considered.
On this point, Mr Dalli said he would not be intimidated from taking action against OLAF chief Giovanni Kessler, the Commission, and the tobacco lobby.
“This new batch of conjectures and allegations, published in the International Herald Tribune, is nothing but an attempt to damage my reputation,” he said.
A new probe would come at a tricky time for the EU institution, which in the past months faced fierce criticism from MEPs over how this investigation was handled. Moreover, the European Parliament is expected to discuss a reform document on the agency this week.
Serious questions have been raised about whether the agency breached the fundamental rights of some of the suspects, in particular those of Mr Zammit.
A report by the agency’s supervisory committee questioned whether OLAF had the remit to request Mr Zammit’s phone records and whether it was legal for investigators to ask Inge Delfosse – a lobbyist for a smokeless tobacco called snus which is banned by the EU in all countries except Sweden – to record a conversation with the Sliema restaurateur.
The agency’s chief Mr Kessler – who has faced resignation calls – defended himself, arguing that the agency was confident in its actions and if anyone felt aggrieved by its actions, they could seek redress at the European Court of Justice.
But critics have also criticised the investigation itself as being weak. The central piece of evidence brought against Mr Dalli was a series of phone calls that happened moments after Mr Zammit allegedly asked for money to lift the ban on snus.
Both men denied that these conversations had anything to do with snus. Moreover, in a recent judicial protest, Mr Zammit alleged he was acting on behalf of lawyer Gayle Kimberley – the Maltese lawyer representing tobacco company Swedish Match in Malta.
So far, Mr Zammit is the only person to have been charged in connection with the case. He is alleged to have asked representatives from Swedish Match for €60 million to lift the ban.
The OLAF report had recommended that Dr Kimberley should also be charged with trading in influence but the Maltese police always treated her as a witness.