Bastjan Dalli says he was ‘approached’ to implicate his brother in Joe Zahra’s report

Contractor Bastjan Dalli told a court this afternoon that a man, whom he said he could not identify, had approached him while he was held at Corradino prisons earlier this year, and told him that he would be released if he admitted that his brother, former Minister John Dalli, was involved in the false report compiled by private investigator Joe Zahra.

The Zahra report - that was eventually proved to be false - implied a series of irregularities in the Mater Dei Hospital equipment procurement process and mentioned Bastjan Dalli as the recipient of kickbacks from the winning firm Inso SpA of Italy.

Dalli, 52 of Qormi, who is out on bail and awaiting trial to face charges on conspiracy to traffic cannabis, was giving evidence before Magistrate Miriam Hayman following an application presented to the Attorney General to allow new evidence to be brought before the courts.

In his evidence, Bastjan Dalli said that the police had arrested him twice over the alleged importation of drugs on a yacht in December 2008, and which later turned out to be bars of soap.

But during his second arrest, Dalli explained that “a man had spoken to me from the hatch of my prison cell.”

He went on to say that: “this man told me specifically that if  told the police that my brother John was involved in the case Joe Zahra report on Mater Dei, I would be free to go…”.

Joe Zahra was last month imprisoned for 17 months after an appeals court upheld a previous judgement that found him guilty of fabricating evidence in a report that he compiled for a Dutch firm Simed that lost a multi-million contract for the supply of medical equipment to Mater Dei Hospital.

The report had been passed on to the Prime Minister in May 2004, and it led to John Dalli’s resignation as foreign minister in 2004.

Bastjan Dalli stressed that he was quick to reply and tell the man that he had no intention of doing anything of the sort.

When Bastjan was released on bail a few weeks later, he spoke to his brother John Dalli who in turn had told him that he would speak to the Police Commissioner about it.

Dalli was not sure if his brother had in fact spoken to the Commissioner of Police. “I cannot trust anybody anymore, and this is why I didn’t say anything about this to anyone until now,” Bastjan Dalli said.

Bastjan Dalli’s statement was immediately countered by the police during cross-examination, led by Police Superintendent Norbert Ciappara.

Repeatedly asked if he recognised who was the man that approached him, Bastjan Dalli stressed that from the hatch on his prison cell door, he could not tell if he was wearing a uniform. “What I can say for certainty is that it was a man who spoke in a very low voice.”

Bastjan Dalli stands charged with conspiring to deal in cannabis in December last year and violating police bail conditions when he travelled to Libya. He is the fifth man charged in connection with the 30 kilogramme "drug" find that was intercepted by police after it was allegedly imported aboard a yacht sailing in from Libya.

His arraignment follows that of another four men

Rupert Busuttil, 34, Carmelo Borg, 31, Marvin Debono, 22, and Paul Azzopardi, 39, were arrested and charged in connection with the same drug find.

The four men were allegedly caught leaving an area known as L-Irdum ta' Miġra l-Ferħa, near Mtaħleb, in two cars on December 27, 2008 after they allegedly picked up 30 kilogrammes of "cannabis" from the rocky beach.

The police said they had ferried the stuff with a dinghy from an anchored yacht, the Jolly Roger, which had sailed in from Libya. However, during the case against them, an expert found that the drug was actually soap.

This case bears legal similarities to that of Steven Marsden who was jailed for 25 years in January for conspiring to import 50,000 "ecstasy" pills in 2006.

Marsden's case set a precedent in Malta as he was found guilty of conspiring to import ecstasy although it turned out to be another substance, known as MCPP, which was not illegal in Malta at the time.