Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit hasn’t been entirely honest with us – he must have known something of the Bahamas trip(s)
I have received an anonymous email telling me:
Kindly note that the report about Dalli going to the Bahamas was on the police commissioner’s desk since before the election.
This tallies with some evidence I have that OLAF knew about John Dalli’s trips to the Bahamas when he was an EU Commissioner and had also been informed about the alleged purpose of his visits there – for the transferring of funds – though this was after the formal closure of the investigation and more than a month after he was forced to resign.
Dalli was forced out in October and OLAF were informed about the Bahamas visit and its alleged purpose in November.
I consider it reasonable to expect that OLAF transmitted this information to the Malta Police. In any case, John Rizzo was Police Commissioner at the time, so I’ve just rung him to ask whether this is indeed so.
He was very civil.
“Do I have to answer you?”
“No, but I have to ask you.”
“I can’t very well comment. You have to consider my position.”
“That’s OK. No comment it is, then.”
“But what you’ve just read out to me isn’t entirely correct.”
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On a slightly different note, the Circus is coming to a town near you.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130705/local/cabinet.476753
Have they considered renting Mr. Connor’s villa in the Bahamas (prepayment of rent is compulsory at this point)? Or perhaps meeting aboard a return flight from Heathrow to the Bahamas without ever landing on the Bahamas?
Heard there are a lot of coconuts in the Bahamas. Kurt Farrugia should feel at home.
“Send out the clowns.”
Daphne, I have just cancelled all my newspaper subscriptions. If one wants to know what’s happening, and be entertained in the process, one needs only to read your blog.
Apart from a few a..holes, DCG has won the public’s admiration, including most of the opposition.
As someone said, best favour the Commissioner of Police can do is to put you in charge of this investigation. Up to now all the PM and he have done is embarrass themselves. PM, ghidli ma’ min taghmila u nghidlek int xi sarraff.
And what exactly did you read out to him? Was it the email?
And a very well done for doing such a great job.
[Daphne – Yes, the email, certainly not the bill of rights.]
Can I repeat that I do not have trust in the Commissioner of Police and his investigatory work more so when he rushed to give us a statement such as that one on Mr Dalli and now it is alleged that he had more papers that he may have overlooked and which may have given further insight into the case in question.
Putting Mr Dalli in bad light when he does not deserve is a huge sin but it is a double sin if the Police duties are not done properly & diligently in such very delicate circumstances which have much worse repercussions due to such negligence (let us assume it) which it will bring onto our country.
The Commissioner of Police should be responsible, answerable and accountable to the people. Let us hope there will be a statement from his office to clarify these issues as if these events are real, we have a more serious problem than we thought in our justice system.
Its the weekend… the busiest time for their new catering business. Can you please be patient until next week?
The Commissioner of Police made it a point to include the Attorney General when he talked about his decision not to prosecute due to lack of evidence.
Did the Attorney General know about the Bahamas?
We need answers and clarifications.
Perhaps the present Police Commissioner was told to drop the matter. He didn’t waste any time before telling us there was insufficient evidence to proceed and he did this without interviewing Mr Dalli after the latter’s sojourn in Brussels.
Perhap? It’s the the most plausible explanation for Rizzo’s removal and Zammit’s appointment, more so now we know that Rizzo knew about Dalli’s Bahamas visits.
So we have a dishonest police commissioner somehow covering up for Dalli, a prime minister believing in Dalli by offering him the Mater Dei post and Dalli himself adamantly maintaining his innocence when the whole of Malta thinks otherwise.
The circus has come to town.
This must be the baptism of fire for our new police commissioner. I hope he does keep in mind and realize that he is accountable to all the people of Malta and that ultimately ‘iz-zejt jitla f’wicc l-ilma’ (truth eventually outs).
So we have a dishonest police commissioner somehow covering up for Dalli, a prime minister who believes in Dalli by offering him the Mater Dei post and Dalli himself adamantly maintaining his innocence when the whole of Malta thinks otherwise.
Bring out the candy floss. The circus has come home.
The Commissioner of Police has a huge responsibility which I am sure he is well aware of.
He should keep his distance from his political masters and not touch them with a barge pole.
They are already in a great big almighty mess and will drag him down only to discard him at their dirty convenience like they did with his predecessor.
If the citizens lose trust in the police chief then the country has had it.
I must admit I never dreamt we would reach this dire situation after only four months of PL government.
I hoped the honeymoon would last longer.
I was wrong.
Not to forget that Joseph Muscat has a finger in this pie. He was the first one John Dalli contacted when he was forced to resign as EU commissioner;
Dalli was a regular feature on the (M)LP’s SuperOne TV with his diatribes against Gonzi and the ‘evil clikk’ within the PN. Now we know where the ‘click’ was.
As Prime Minister Joseph has sealed his fate with John Dalli by virtually giving him an executive (ministerial) job.
In face of all this ‘our’ Prime Minister is now expecting a personal explanation (what does he expect him to explain?).
If this were not a sick joke he should revoke his appointment and put him under a full investigation.
Is Joseph Muscat still waiting for John Dalli’s personal explanation about the trips to the Bahamas?
If the Commissioner of Police had the information about Dalli’s trip to the Bahamas from before the elections – and therefore before he stated that he did not have sufficient evidence – would I be right to assume that the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat knew (or should have known) about those trips before he appointed Dalli as Minister of Health?
If Muscat knew about those trips, shouldn’t he have asked for the personal explanations before he proceeded with the appointment? Why is he asking for those explanations now, after Dalli’s trips were exposed in the international press? Is this another case of Muscat not doing due diligence when it is due?