The EU anti-fraud agency is confident none of its actions were illegal when it investigated former Health Commissioner John Dalli.
“We have done a legality check on the points raised by the supervisory committee [the agency OLAF’s watchdog] and we are pretty confident we have done nothing that is not according to law ...,” agency chief Giovanni Kessler said.
“But if anyone of the people concerned feels aggrieved they can take us to court. Mr Dalli has raised one point, we will see,” Mr Kessler said.
He was speaking at a press briefing in Brussels yesterday where he presented the agency’s annual report for 2012.
If anyone of the people concerned feels aggrieved they can take us to court
The reaction comes after Green MEPs Bart Staes and José Bové leaked to the media in Malta a copy of an internal opinion by the supervisory committee, which questioned the legality of some of OLAF’s actions during the investigation involving John Dalli.
Most of the questions raised actually concern Silvio Zammit, Mr Dalli’s former canvasser, who has so far been the only person charged in connection with the investigation.
He is denying charges of trading in influence and bribery for allegedly asking tobacco firm Swedish Match for €60 million in return for lifting a ban on snus, a form of tobacco consumed orally which can be sold only in Sweden.
Among other things, the supervisory committee questioned whether OLAF had a legal basis to ask for Mr Zammit’s phone records and whether the agency had breached Belgian law when it asked snus lobbyist Inge Delfosse to record a convers-ation she had with him under OLAF investigators’ guidance.
Mr Kessler said the agency had responded internally to the points raised by the committee in February, and insisted the position was clear as far as the agency was concerned.
He argued that those who felt aggrieved could take their complaints to the courts, and pointed out that the last case the agency had lost over a similar issue was in 2008.
“This is normal; last year we carried out more than 400 investigations. Sometimes people have complaints and they challenge us in court,” he said, adding that the agency had successfully defended itself from similar claims made against it in 2011 by the head of a European Directorate.
Asked by Times of Malta if he would step down if the courts upheld the claims in the Dalligate investigation, given it is such a high-profile case, Mr Kessler said: “No. Let’s put things into perspective. If OLAF is found guilty of fabricating evidence to set someone else up, then that is not a question of resignation but a criminal offence. I would go to jail and with me a few other people ...”
He referred to allegations made by some newspapers that OLAF had misled the European Commission on the Dalligate case because it included false information in the report.
“We now know that that is not the case, but nobody corrected that impression,” he said, complaining about some media reportage of the case.
Asked if he felt the fallout from the scandal had dented the agency’s reputation, he said he did not think so.
“This is an evaluation, obviously, but we have seen an increase of information being reported to OLAF after this case.”
The agency was under fire from a small but influential group of MEPs who have been questioning the whole process that led to Mr Dalli’s resignation and who have been particularly critical of the OLAF investigation, even calling for Mr Kessler to step down.
Meanwhile, Brussels-based news agency New Europe yesterday published what it said were the missing pages 15 and 16 of the OLAF report into Dalligate, under the heading: “The key evidence against John Dalli brought to light. Is it enough?”
The pages include a log of phone calls between Mr Dalli, Mr Zammit and lawyer Gayle Kimberley, but does not shed new light on the case because the conclusions and analysis of the report had already been published.