Dalli: It’s all about him, his family and their (lost) opportunities
John Dalli and Gaddafi’s ‘energy minister’ Fathi Bin Shatwan, in happier and more lucrative days.
Today, in my column in The Malta Independent, titled ‘A National Disgrace’ (link below), I wrote:
The most worrying aspect of this business is that he seems not concerned so much at the loss of his position, but at the loss of what that position meant to him in terms of opportunities.
From cabinet minister to EU Commissioner, and now with no power at all, not even the power of being aligned to a political party, unless you count his current flirtations with Labour.
He has been accustomed to working within the wheels of influence and perhaps even using that influence to his advantage, which is what this disastrous case is all about. What will he do now? I believe that to be his problem.
I seem to have assessed the situation correctly. This morning, I read a Reuters report (link below) which I had missed yesterday, in which Dalli is quoted as saying that his worries are exactly those:
“My intention is to challenge the decision of the president, to challenge the decisions of OLAF, and the way that OLAF has gone through the whole procedure,” Dalli told a news conference in Brussels.
“This is a very serious decision that Mr Barroso took, very serious. It will damage my whole future, and it will damage the future of my family.
“So all I’m asking is to rectify this situation. It’s not a question of getting your job back or not getting your job back,” he said.
It is not the damage to Malta that he is concerned about. It is not the embarrassment to the prime minister and government who nominated him. It is not the fact that many Maltese are now squirming with the shame, on his behalf, that he clearly does not feel himself.
It is all about him, his family – by which he obviously means his two daughters who run John Dalli & Associates, the family business, and certainly not, I imagine, his drug-smuggling, jailbird brother or his other brother the priest – and the opportunities they will now miss out on.
Since 1987, Dalli has used his political connections and his influence to build his personal business. He even boasts about it on the website for John Dalli & Associates, which promises to open doors in Libya.
Now he has, in one fell swoop, been deprived of that influence he took for granted, the opportunities that come with influence (for those who are that way inclined) and he has been turned into a sort of business pariah who few will touch even if they needed to touch him, which they now don’t because his connections and influence have gone.
Oh, wait.
He still has connections and influence in the Labour Party. He rang the Labour leader as soon as he left Jose Manuel Barroso’s office. Joseph Muscat was his first port of call, hopefully after his wife. If they become the government, he’s sorted.
John Dalli & Associates can start buzzing again, but only if they manage to fend off some very stiff competition from all those Dalli-esque sharks, including the champion shark Karmenu Vella, which Labour has harboured for decades.
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My column today:
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=152400
The Reuters report I quoted:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/eu-health-dalli-idUSL5E8LOHN520121024
This is who Fathi Bin Shatwan is (picture caption in post refers):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12997178
Interesting photo. Isn’t that the man who escaped to Malta with his family on a boat from Libya, for whom entry visas were arranged while the boat waited just outside Malta’s harbour?
From the horse’s mouth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2cna-8jBBoQ
14’20” Barroso’s decision will damage all my future (pause) and the future of my family.
Dalli had something up his sleeve with the MLP and now it has been seriously derailed – I suspect not completely.
I cannot put my finger on it but I suspect it is either something to do with energy or something to do with his EU portfolio.
The MLP has been more seriously rattled than the PN with these events and someone must get to the bottom of the Dalli-MLP link.
Qahbumalti: Nifrahlek tal-isem. Originali u joqghodlok !
Sur Privitera, tiftakar meta Malta kollha kienet qisha il-q*hba ta’ Gaddafi?
One cannot ignore his network of middlemen and followers of his creed who’ve just lost their main reference.
They were recognisable up till a week ago, GonziPN sad, bad and grey, JosephPL open to ideas and worth watching, Dalli doer, mover and true PN.
Sometimes they fancied themselves candidates, for the PL. The country nearly wet itself laughing.
.
Of all the dubious circumstances ind this ordeal, I think the most dubious of them all is the MLP media machine’s total lack of the usual guerilla propaganda aimed against Mr Dalli.
Considering Dalli was appointed by our Prime Minister and that he is still a member of the Nationalist Party (technically), this is quite suspicious, especially considering the fact that he has been one of their favourite targets in the not so distant past.
John Dalli was “interviewed” twice during OLAF’s investigations.
What happened during those interviews?
Dalli isn’t saying anything about them. We know that he was assisted by a person of his choice.
He also had the opportunity to express his views orally or written. He didn’t tell us what he did.
“It will damage my whole future, and it will damage the future of my family.” Now he knows what it feels like. What goes round comes round, Mr Dalli.
Dalli should apply for the good causes fund.
Miskin – himself and his family will now starve……
John Dalli neutered himself by associating with scummy wheeler dealers like Mr. Mqaret.
Daphne, why didn’t you go to Brussels to grill John Dalli during his press conference ? Or you feel safer writing your articles and comments on home ground – The Malta Independent and your blog ?
Why doesn’t Barroso face the same journalists which John Dalli faced for 3/4 hour ?
[Daphne – Because he doesn’t need to. As for John Dalli and me, we are not on speaking terms and haven’t been for the last decade. Back then, I had good reason to believe that he was up to something similar, but didn’t have proof.]
The only grilling our Daphne does is on a griddle. She’s not a journalist but a cookery writer, remember?
Yes Baxxter and she’s got good TASTE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRcD6cWf50E&playnext=1&list=PLDC0ADF8B1D452CBA&feature=results_video
The Dalli and Zammit theme song.
PUFF DALLI (not a homophobic reference)
It’s about that money:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxe6YBQZ1QA&feature=player_embedded#!