Francis, are you in any way related to Franco Debono? Your self-serving comments sound familiar.

“To be more specific, I strongly resent that anyone should pronounce me guilty of associating with a bribery that was culturally accepted in Africa but of which I did not form any part.and which I tried to eradicate with little success.”

Dalli wasn’t exactly working in Africa. He was working where he could use safeguards to protect himself and the Commission.

@Miss Forcina

So what’s the bottom line?

@Daphne

I do appreciate your thought and reasoning, fully understanding your point. Yet, if one must put to task your reasoning, then half (and I am being really conservative here) of our local politicians, be they LP or PN should resign…

Has it ever occurred to you that the art of spin is not the exclusive trait of the Maltese?

I think the point is not even that. If Dalli knew, he was breaking the law by not reporting.

Even if Dalli did not know, he is a commissioner linked to someone who is trading in influence.

That is politically untenable at a European level. I guess in Malta it is not, and that is why many people cannot get round to accepting what has happened.

What do people find so difficult to understand?

It is clear that Zammit traded in influence using Dalli’s name.

Zammit is linked to Dalli as a canvasser. Isn’t that a resigning matter on its own? How can you trust a commissioner with links to, at the very least, a conman.

Joseph Muscat the ‘Cheshire cat’?

No, if OLAF interviewed him twice, they must have told him what the investigation was all about and Dalli could very easily have put one and one together.

Rest assured that if Swedish Match had paid any money, Mr Dalli would have received a sizable cut because by his own words, if I am not mistaken, he said that ‘taking such a risk (receiving a bribe) the reward would have had to be large enough to compensate him for the automatic loss of his EU career’.

This is just one example which proves that the best thing for him now, is to shut up, although in my opinion, he has already said too much and to the wrong people.

He should be careful though, because if he loses his €9,000 monthly pension because of his ongoing nonsense, he will join the starving Maltese and resort to buying the odd loaf of bread and a tin of tuna – like the fare enjoyed by so many during the bulk-buying days.