Brussels, 10/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is absolutely sticking to its guns, although the Maltese police found, on Monday 10 June, that there was insufficient evidence to start criminal investigations against former Commissioner for Health John Dalli (see EUROPE 10838).
On Monday, the European Commission defended the former commissioner's having to step down following allegations of trafficking of influence with the tobacco industry.
“The Commission has seen the information regarding the Maltese police's intention not to charge Mr Dalli. The situation concerning Mr Dalli's resignation remains unchanged, as this resignation was not based on the fact that criminal proceedings were to be opened against Mr Dalli. From the very beginning, we stressed the presumption of innocence. Mr Dalli resigned because his position had become politically untenable in light of the facts and conclusions of the administrative investigation by OLAF” (European anti-fraud office), a Commission spokesperson said. She added that a distinction had to be drawn between the political aspect of this case and the legal aspect.
The Commission reiterates that the decision on Dalli's resignation was based on the conclusions of OLAF. The spokesperson went on to explain that, in line with an agreement with Commission President José Manuel Barroso, John Dalli decided to step down so that justice could be done and that he could clear his name. Dalli, on the other hand, states that he was forced to resign.
In the view of Inge Grässle (EPP, Germany), a member of the budgetary control committee of the European Parliament, “it appears that OLAF has no criminal proof against John Dalli”. She sees the announcement by the Maltese police as evidence of the “unprofessional” work of the director general of OLAF, Giovanni Kessler, who “disregarded internal standards for investigations and, according to the Supervisory Committee, was in breach of EU law”, said Grässle. “The director general of Olaf must now give detailed testimony to the European Parliament's budgetary control committee about his dubious investigation methods and his obviously false statements on the Dalli case”, Grässle added.
Readers may recall that OLAF investigated following a complaint by a Swedish tobacco producer, Swedish Match, which alleged that a Maltese businessman had approached it, laying great emphasis on his contacts with Dalli to influence a bill on tobacco products in exchange for the payment of €60 million.
“The procedure and the investigation are underway, the Maltese authorities are in the middle of their legal examination of the issue, and OLAF passed on its conclusions following its administrative investigation to the Maltese authorities. It is up to the Maltese authorities to take a stance on the substance as regards the procedures they feel should be put in place. It is not for the Commission to intervene on any matter related to this process”, the Commission spokesperson concluded. (LC/transl.fl)