Disclosure and closure

Dalli is as stubborn as an ox but he needs to divulge his charity work in more detail if he wants to kill the negative perceptions.

Monday morning, and just my luck, I bought a copy of the Herald Tribune (and some magazines). That is what I usually do when I am at an airport and killing time in the effort to return to Malta.

There, in my face, a John Dalli story with a Bahamas twist.

"Jesus Christ, not again."

I had not heard the story and said to myself, "Just great."

A friend sent an SMS: "Either he is the unluckiest person in the world or a bloody idiot."

I made a few phone calls and out came the unofficial explanation of the Bahamas trip.

It still did not look good.

Why John Dalli had failed to disclose such a meeting beats me. I find equally puzzling the fact that he did not tell the prime minister about it.

But with the front-page story in today's Midweek issue and the 'declarations' made by Dalli, I would be willing to give the man yet another benefit of the doubt.

If a cat has nine lives, so does John Dalli.

As expected the Times of Malta journalist had a field day, and the Queen of Bile lost no opportunity to make a killing after such a horrible time recovering from losing Lou Bondì as her bosom friend.

Mr Mark Micallef insinuated, interestingly, that Dalli had made the Bahamas travel plan after a telephone conversation with Silvio Zammit on 6 July 2012. The only problem is that it was made on 3 July.

The two cases (of OLAF and the Bahamas) are unrelated, but obviously a story is always a story. And the fact that Dalli flew to the Bahamas, not Lourdes, is the story. The Bahamas, as we all know, is synonymous with money and tax evasion - hence the story.

Nonetheless, that John Dalli failed to disclose the trip is of concern. Either he does not appreciate how serious the OLAF episode was or else he is living on another planet.

That he says he is helping out in a charity organisation based in the Bahamas also raises suspicions. But he is adamant that this is the case and that he will reveal the real sources.

If I were Dalli, I would have avoided all this hassle, but then he has always been as stubborn as an ox. He will need to divulge his charity work in more detail if he wants to kill the negative perceptions.

That the Queen of Bile has had multiple fake orgasms from Dalli's ills is to be expected. I believe readers should be reminded that her first clash with the man took place years ago, when she represented (in her role as a publicist) an American company that wanted to buy the MIA.

Dalli would have nothing of the sort, and what followed then was a crusade that continues today. The Queen could never forgive Dalli for having denied her such a lucrative project.

John Dalli is a very capable man but compensates for this with utter naivety and the inability to appreciate the implications of all his actions - especially when it comes to public perception.

One last thought: please do not underestimate the ruthlessness of the European Commission in light of Dalli's battle against Barroso and further still, the influence of the tobacco industry on what happens in the press.

There is a lot at stake here, so jumping to conclusions best avoided at this point.

***

It is about time we start looking at the Security Service debate by taking a very long, hard look at the past. I mean at the way the Security Service was run under Godfrey Scicluna and how it could have acted contrary to its statute. I can imagine a few investigative stories that would shed light on the real story of Malta's Security Service.

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@ tweetybirdie Couldn't have said it better. Moreover I am disappointed with the extent of 'benefit of the doubt' being afforded by MaltaToday, considering the appropriate zealousness, fairness and nononesense approach MT has proved to have for investigative journalism - which the other local media are so confortably oblivious about.
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Hate to repeat myself but I am still of the idea that the PM should grant Mr Zammit a Presidential Pardon like the ex PM Lawrence Gonzi did for Mr Farrugia. I am sure that Mr Zammit will have many stories to tell and most of those stories might come as a surprise to all. Let Mr Zammit name and shame.
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There are a few more things that Mr Dalli needs to explain I think. It would seem that his 'family' rented Connor's Bahamas beachside mansion at $8000 per month for a whole year, and that this would apparently entitle the tenant to residency in the Bahamas -- which, as you know, is a well known tax haven. Why would one spend $100,000 or so for a house that one rarely, if ever, stays in? We all know that Mr Dalli has had ample opportunity to make money 'on the side', given the positions he has held, both within the Government of Malta, and in Brussels. (One such opportunity that comes immediately to mind is the sale of Mid-Med Bank to HSBC. Even at the time, the bank seemed to be being sold for a pittance -- and this is more apparent now that one can look at the bank's performance over the last years...). Given the allegations against him, Mr Dalli should open himself up to scrutiny and cooperate so as to clear his name. Not doing so suggests that he has something to hide -- and if there is any truth in the stories, there could be quite a lot! And we understand that Mr Dalli does not have bank accounts with enormous sums of money in his name -- who would be so stupid? This does not mean that he cannot have control of many different types financial resources, perhaps through other people, outside of the bank accounts he holds in Malta and Brussels. This is why the authorities should (re-)open a full investigation of Mr Dalli, which should extend to others who may be acting on his behalf. They owe it to us all...
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Saviour, you have lost all your credibility. You have your personal agenda and that is why you continue to defend Dalli at all costs. Why have you never investigated his family's involvement in the local representation of IRISL, the Iranian Shipping Agency. Let me remind you what for PL leader said in Parliament about the matter: "Dr Sant spoke at some length on Mr Dalli's alleged involvement in the local representation of an Iranian shipping line operating at Malta Freeport. He said that after a Maltese company had worked for several years to attract this line to Malta, the local representation was awarded to another company, Gauci Borda Shipping Ltd, which did not have significant experience in shipping work. It resulted that members of Mr Dalli's family were involved in this company."
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Are you assuming that all the readers are morons?
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Has anybody bothered to check the credentials of this Barry Connor before rushing to print? Some cases do come up of his possible involvement ( unless many Barry Connors in Bahamas) if one GIS into the Bahamas Law Courts.
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Dalli has rocked the boat too many times to be credible. Those who still insist that he smells of roses are either very naive or manipulative.