“The allegations are the most serious to hit the EU’s executive in years” – Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal, yesterday:
EU Details Official’s Role in Tobacco Lobbying .
By LAURENCE NORMAN
BRUSSELS—European officials have given new details of an alleged cash-for-influence scandal that has forced the resignation of European Union Health Commissioner John Dalli, while Mr. Dalli has defended himself, saying he was told to quit and claiming that a tobacco industry group had sought to bribe a business associate.
The allegations are the most serious to hit the EU’s executive in years and come at a time when Brussels is seeking more power to oversee national budgets and economic policy.
Mr. Dalli resigned on Tuesday after the EU’s antifraud office, Office de Lutte Anti-Fraude, or OLAF, finished its investigation into a complaint made in May 2012 by tobacco producer Swedish Match SWMA.SK +0.08%AB.
The Swedish company alleged that a Maltese entrepreneur had tried to use his connection with Mr. Dalli to gain financial advantages from the company in return for influencing a possible legislative proposal on tobacco products, in particular on the EU’s sales and export ban on snus. Sweden enjoys some exemptions on those rules.
Giovanni Kessler, director general of OLAF, on Wednesday said Mr. Dalli was aware that a “person close to him” had repeatedly requested what he called “substantial” sums from the Swedish Match.
“We are not talking about a fee for a lobbying company,” he said at a news conference. “This was a large amount of money that was being asked for to change a decision.”
Mr. Kessler confirmed no money was ever paid to the businessman, who he declined to name. He reiterated that Mr. Dalli, a former Maltese minister who joined the Commission in 2010, wasn’t involved in the requests. He said Mr. Dalli participated in two meetings arranged by the businessman with lobbyists for Swedish Match.
“Our conclusions are that he was aware of this and he didn’t do anything to prevent, stop, report on this,” Mr. Kessler said.
Mr. Dalli rejected the allegations against him “categorically,” in an online video interview with the publication New Europe. In the interview, Mr. Dalli named the businessman as Silvio Zammit, a Maltese businessman and politician.
In a statement emailed to Dow Jones Newswires, Mr. Zammit denied “all allegations of any wrongdoing on my part.” He said he simply played the “role” of a lobbyist and said he was contacted by the tobacco industry officials “and it was them that set the ball rolling.”
He said OLAF has “seriously misinterpreted the evidence” and said his contribution to the case “was above board and regular.”
Mr. Dalli, in his interview with New Europe, said that the tobacco industry stood to gain from his resignation, as it will delay proposals the Commission was working on that aimed to tighten regulation of nonsmoke tobacco, such as snus, as well as tougher rules on cigarette packaging. He claimed the result of this delay is that the current commission, whose term ends in 2014, will fail to implement the new rules. Snus is a type of moist tobacco placed behind the upper lip.
A spokeswoman for the EU Commission said Brussels would press ahead with its work on the new tobacco rules as soon as a replacement health commissioner is in place. The spokeswoman, Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen, said she hoped this could happen “swiftly.” Malta’s government must nominate a replacement.
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‘Business associate’. Trust Americans not to mince their words.
Bil-Maltin jitnejku u jbellawlhom kollox imma bl-Ewropej le.
Min jaf John Bundy jgaghmilx xi programm forsi fuq affari taghna fuq il-One ghax dil-haga tikkoncernana hafna lilna l-Maltin, u perswas li John Dalli hemm mhux ser jirrifjuta u jiddejjaq jmur, ghax hemm il-mistoqsijiet jaghmluhomlu kif jaqbel lilhom.
Astrid’s on Super One tonight. Povru Mario De Marco.
Seems both brothers are traders of sorts, one in ‘soap’ the other alleged influence. Hope they file their tax returns at least.
It’s a good thing that souls can’t be traded.
Great. Most Americans will now be wondering where on earth is Malta, and when they do find out, they will always associate Malta with the corrupt EU commissioner.
The Americans had better worry about their own corrupt CEOs first who put their financial institutions on their knees and many of whom are in jail for a long time and others who should be in jail and so far have dodged the system.
Corruption is everywhere and this type of ‘corruption without physical violence’ always seems to elicit rather lenient sentences, totally ignoring the plight of victims of such crimes.
[Daphne – There is absolutely no need to go on the defensive about Dalli against ‘foreigners’. A corrupt person is a corrupt person, and if he shares your passport, then that is more reason to disown him, not less.]