MaltaToday’s Balzan: ‘Politicians never too far off from Dalli police investigation’

MaltaToday's Managing Editor Saviour Balzan - one of the campaigners for Malta's accession into the European Union - made for an unlikely guest in Brussels this week in non-aligned MEP Adrian Severin's conference on euroscepticism.

But in his 30-minute presentation on the Dalligate affair, Balzan put forward his strong conviction that the Maltese police investigating the findings of the EU's anti-fraud office's investigation into an alleged €60 million bribe were under direct political orders to have former European Commissioner John Dalli arraigned in court.

"Throughout his interrogation, former police commissioner John Rizzo had an unusual manner of taunting not only Silvio Zammit, but also his business partner Iosif Galea - who happened to be a former lover of lobbyist Gayle Kimberley - into admitting something they could not admit. I know from relatives of Galea that Rizzo constantly barked at him to admit that Dalli had personally requested money from him," Balzan declared.

Silvio Zammit, the former Nationalist deputy mayor of Sliema who currently stands accused in court of money laundering, bribery and trading in influence, has also personally declared that Rizzo asked him over and over again to tell him "how much money had Dalli asked for."

Balzan also put to his audience the question of why the Maltese police did not even consider prosecuting Swedish Match lobbyist Gayle Kimberley, when the OLAF report itself suggested that she could have been an accomplice in the alleged bribery attempt to have John Dalli reverse a ban on snus (the tobacco that the company produces).

"The conclusions of OLAF director Giovanni Kessler were very clear: Kimberley was an accomplice with Silvio Zammit in the preparation and facilitation of contacts and the alleged bribe request that brought down the former EU commissioner. Perhaps the reason she was not arraigned is that Kimberley is from an influential Maltese family that was close to the powers that be - and because she had also been offered a post within the Office of the Prime Minister, which she did not take when she feared a change in government with the upcoming March 2013 elections."

Balzan then questioned the judicial criteria for Kessler to use his circumstantial evidence - which turned out to be summarised telephone logs - as the basis for his conclusions. "I am no prosecutor but everyone seems to be questioning Kessler's investigative methods and conclusions."

He said that Kessler conveniently did not produce the logs of both Silvio Zammit and John Dalli from the day, which would have indicated that both men were in contact with many other callers. "Had he produced all the logs, it would have been very clear that Zammit was a prolific telephone user and that on the same day, Zammit spoke to one former Nationalist minister (Michael Refalo), a minister (George Pullicino) and the PN secretary-general (Paul Borg Olivier)."

Balzan opined that Kessler had probably interpreted the enthusiasm shown by the Maltese government with a genuine commitment to see justice done.

"He did not realise or read that the reason for the zeal and willingness of Rita Schembri, now the disgraced former head of the OPM's internal audit department, and of the Maltese government in general was down to the Nationalist leadership's political fear of Dalli's political ambitions and their disdain for Lawrence Gonzi's former leadership rival.

"Kessler may have interpreted this as a genuine interest in fighting corruption, but this was definitely not the case."

Balzan's allusion to direct political manipulation of the Dalli case in Malta was paired with a quote from the new Maltese police commissioner, Peter Paul Zammit, on his own thoughts of the Rizzo investigation, which Rizzo gave to German television channel ARD: "Were I to act in the same manner in my position now, I think I would be risking getting kicked out of office."