Wall Street Journal: ‘Email Correspondence Offers Murky Picture on Dalli’s Resignation’
Quoted directly from this article:
In the first email, dated March 8, Mr. Zammit writes to Ms. Delfosse that “following a first exploratory meeting with the relevant Maltese liaisons, I can propose the following package of services which we can discuss further with you.”
The services include “preparation and drawing up of presentation to put forward to relevant high-level Commission representatives,” “lobbying efforts and setting up of high-level meetings” and “planning next steps to include deeper consolidation of industry position and furthering of industry interests, with top-level introductions and action strategy,” the email from Mr. Zammit says.
Mr. Zammit named a company “through which these services will be provided.…More details can be thrashed out orally and the above package can be further tailor-made to suit your needs.”
And:
The next email, dated March 15, is from Ms. Delfosse.
“I have to say that I am a little confused as I thought that you were offering your services and not the attached company. Could you clarify?” Ms. Delfosse says. “For me to introduce a new consultant to ESTOC, I would need a more detailed offer including a price (hourly rate or monthly retainer). The below is not concrete enough.”
Mr. Zammit’s response came that evening.
“I should clarify. I am offering these services alone and personally. I use the company below as my consultants on EU law and public affairs. I simply wanted to give you options regarding invoicing should you need to bill an established company with expertise in EU affairs for all or part of the cost.…If you don’t need this, please feel free to discard. I shall give you a call asap.”
Ms. Delfosse responded on March 16, asking for a meeting with Mr. Dalli and for the cost of setting up such a meeting. This is the same email that Mr. Dalli cited in his news conference.
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Off topic.
Rip this bassa to pieces please…
http://www.inewsmalta.com/dart/20121026-gideb-ta-gonzipn
Entrapment, my foot!
Do Dalli and Zammit not realise all these emails will be in the OLAF files currently with the police?
Halcyon days.
I wonder if the “first exploratory meeting with the relevant Maltese liaisons” was the one in which the young female lawyer met with the former Commissioner by the pool in Gozo.
If Silvio Zammit wrote those emails, then I am the Queen of England.
Silvio Zammit can’t tell sh*t from a shovel, let alone write that email.
If the imqaret are of the same standard as those emails, they must be really good.
@ciccio : Naqbel mieghek IMMA l-imqaret li kienet taghmel nannet Silvio apparentament kienu verament tajbin, fost l-ahjar ta’ Malta (forsi Daphne tista tikkonferma dan ?)
[Daphne – Yes, that’s true. She used to fry them over a spirit-burner on the boundary wall of the playground near the watchtower on Tower Road.]
Don’t you think that such an “entrepreneur” who rose from selling imqaret to the heights of owning a restaurant in the best part of Sliema. And to deputy-mayor of Sliema, hasn’t a secretary or accountant who can write emails for him ?
And don’t you know that GonziPN candidates are all super -educated, according to Daphne ?
I know the man very well. He can’t put two words together in Maltese, let alone English. He is so obviously a front man. albeit not exactly suitable for Johnny’s dirty work.
How come then Lawrence Gonzi accepted him as a candidate in such a place as Sliema ? Aren’t you revealing the fact that GonziPN is made up also of such uneducated people, contrary to the perception which Daphne tries so hard to give of GonziPn ???
I am really amazed that Mr Dalli repeatedly portrayes himself as “a victim of entrapment”.
The defence of entrapment only applies to a person WHO HAS COMMITTED A CRIME, but justifies his illegality by proving that he would not have committed that crime had he not been tricked into commitimng it by the police or other state authority.
The police are not entitled to “entrap” an innocent person. but they are perfectly entitled to “entrap” a person who they have reasonable grounds to believe is engaging in criminal activity.
Anyone who pleads entrapment, as John Dalli is doing, is, first and foremost, confessing he has committed a criminal offence.
Is Zammit capable of writing what is being attributed to him? If not the police’s first job is to identify the collaborator. Shades of Franco.
It is probable that these emails were sent by someone else in Silvio’s name using Silvio’s email address.
Can this person be traced from the IP address?
Of course they can be traced if they didn’t cover their tracks.
That would certainly provide ‘unambiguous circumstantial evidence’ if indeed someone was sending emails in his name (which although I was somewhat ridiculed for suggesting I still feel a strong possibility).
The next question now is: what is the name of the company mentioned by Zammit?
@Ciccio I agree. This is the key question, which hopefully will be answered over the coming days.
See also my reaction under this blog post: http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2012/10/more-e-mails-show-zammit-chased-the-snus-lobbyists/#comment-461594
Reading again the sequence of email extracts attributed to Zammit above, and considering them together, I get the impression that there is someone (or an organisation) with professional capability that is coordinating the whole affair, with Silvio Zammit appearing as a front.
It is clear that it is not only the standard of language used in the emails that is remarkable, but the entire lobbying strategy being proposed.
I am amazed at Zammit’s eloquence with the written word.
I was under the possible erroneous impression that he would not have been capable of reading those emails let alone understanding and writing them.