Brussels, 01/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - Information (from the International Herald Tribune) on Monday 1 July reports that the former Health Commissioner, John Dalli, flew to the Bahamas with the apparent intention of transferring money there. A new episode in the saga of the Dalli case? The former Commissioner denies all allegations.
The spokesperson of the EPP Group within the budget control committee of the EP, Inge Grässle (EPP, Germany), states that this revelation is “another surprising turn in a story full of surprises and turns”. She wonders: “When was the European Commission aware of this trip and its purpose, and were the tobacco-related allegations nothing but a pretext in order to keep a big story under wraps? Did OLAF (European anti-fraud office), which apparently was unaware of this fact, allow itself to be used, and then botched everything with an amateurish investigation?”
Grässle calls on the European Commission to explain itself before the budget control committee of the EP regarding these revelations and other issues linked to the Dalli case. The former commissioner was forced to step down due to a suspected case of trafficking of influence with the tobacco industry (see EUROPE 10863). (MC/transl.fl)