Dalli, The Bahamas, And Millions Of Mysterious Euros

In October last year, e-cig trade body ECITA wrote an article about the summary dismissal of John Dalli, EU Health Commissioner at the time and drafter of the appalling Tobacco Products Directive currently slithering its sleazy way through Brussels

To recap, he was sacked personally by EU President Barroso after the anti-corruption body Olaf found what they called "unambiguous circumstantial evidence" that he - through intermediaries - had solicited €60m in bribes from snus manufacturer Swedish Match.

Four months later in February, a lone comment popped up under the ECITA article with a teasing nugget of info.

Edward Butters says:
February 18, 2013 at 6:33 pm 

Would anyone be interested that John Dalli visited the Bahamas with his daughter in Aug and Sept 2012. Rented a seaside million dollar mansion and had discussions with Bahamians about transferring tens of millions of $’s to the Bahamas? More info available.

Well, I was certainly interested. So, with the help of @TheMorrigan1972, tracked the guy down to ask a few questions. Sadly, he wasn't too thrilled with talking to a mere blogger so I pointed him in the direction of EU-centric journos who might be motivated to write it up, but not before teasing out a couple of juicy alleged tidbits about the case.

Today, however, The International Tribune has revealed this shady trip to the Bahamas on its front page.

What made Mr Dalli so tired during those meetings in Cyprus, however, is now finally clear. He had flown more than 16,000 kilometers, or 10,000 miles, for a weekend in the Bahamas as part of a quest to move tens of millions of dollars. 

Asked about the previously undisclosed trip on July 7-8 to a Caribbean island known for its secretive banks and sun-swept beaches, Mr Dalli said in a telephone interview Friday that he had gone to meet unidentified friends. He said he returned at least once in the summer as part of efforts to arrange financing for a philanthropic project. 

Barry Connor, a Bahamas resident who rented Mr Dalli’s family a villa on the island, said he recalled being told by Mr Dalli that he planned to transfer “large amounts” of money for an unspecified venture. 

Asked about sums of up to $100 million, Mr Dalli said that the money was not for him, that he was acting on behalf of other people who wanted to set up a “trust” and that the project was “very personal”.

The Times of Malta has picked up on it and is reporting that ...

OLAF, the EU anti fraud agency, may reopen its case against former Commissioner John Dalli after it learnt that he travelled to the Bahamas last summer as part of a quest to move millions of dollars, the International Herald Tribune reports today.

Dalli, of course, is denying that he has done anything wrong. Again, it is simply that the world is out to get him.

“This is all conjecture without any sense... people are still trying to smear me,” Mr Dalli said.

Maltese blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia has been running a series of interesting articles all day on this development, with her summation of Dalli's explanation being the best bit in my opinion.

No doubt, two of the world’s most reputable newspapers are in a conspiracy with Saviour Balzan’s Queen of Bile, evil bloggers, gOnziPN, Giovanni Kessler, Jose Manuel Barroso, the nasty European Commission, and the mysterious agents who hacked Dalli’s email account and called him J Dalli BA. 

I am sure his psychiatrist – a man I mention because his medical certificates were so much in the news when he certified Dalli unable to get on a plane because of ‘psycho-social’ problems – has a name for this disorder, which unites persecution mania with the ability to convince oneself that one is absolutely innocent at all times, even when one is not. 

Enough of this nonsense. Really, enough.

It certainly does seem to be a 'scandal' which has more in and outs than a 24 hour multi-storey car park, but the whiff surrounding Dalli still won't disperse. No wonder they made him 'step outside' the EU building that day in October ... or, as Galizia puts it.

This is enough for the European Commission to open a fresh investigation/case against him. 

And quite frankly, they should sue us for inflicting somebody so substandard on the Commission in the first place. Damn shame he got through the grilling.

Now, I have no idea if Dalli is guilty or just incompetent as a natural result of the EU's daft appointment criteria. But there is little doubt that controversy seems to follow him around wherever he goes ... and that it is always about money. Probably why the tobacco control industry have gone very quiet about their initial hilarious conspiracy theories, he certainly isn't someone I'd personally feel confident in backing with my reputation. Indeed, Private Eye could perhaps dig up something juicy themselves if they weren't such a sad shadow of the organ that used to embarrass establishment years ago.

Meanwhile, the tobacco products directive Dalli wrote continues to be adopted despite serious question marks still hanging over his integrity; despite Dalli ignoring the consultation on snus and justifying it on the basis that there are responses hidden away at the back of his sofa (hmm, millions of mystery euros 'privately' hidden away rings a bell, doesn't it?); and despite his showing he knows absolutely nothing about e-cigs.

The entire directive has been an exercise of incompetence, chicanery and dodgy dealing from start to finish; a damning indictment of arrogant EU self-regard and waste. Can we leave yet?