Who sticks up for Dalli? A cigarette smuggler now based in Tripoli.
This comment was posted on Maltastar, beneath a story about poor old John Dalli, the Labour Party’s hero.
“I know the man,” Ronnie Agius says. Well, I wouldn’t admit to being known by Ronnie Agius in John Dalli’s position.
Agius was imprisoned in Belgium in 1999 on cigarette smuggling offences. When the North Ireland police cooperated with the Maltese police and Maltese Attorney-General’s office in late 2000/early 2001 to crack down on a massive cigarette smuggling operation involving Libya, Malta and the IRA (the IRA were using the smuggled cigarettes as a source of funds for terrorism), Ronnie Agius was one of the first people they pinned down for questioning.
For the last few years, Agius has been living in Tripoli, and describes his business there as ‘import/export’. During the Libyan revolution, he was a vocal supporter of Muammar Gaddafi and the regime.
I think it is pertinent to ask at this stage exactly what his connections with John Dalli really are, and how he got to know him so well.
An EU Commissioner and a man who saw the inside of a Belgian prison because of his involvement in a cigarette smuggling operation? I don’t think so.
No wonder they jumped at the chance to get rid of Dalli. We should never have compromised the European Commission, and Malta, by sending him there.
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Jeez, even his ‘shady friends’ keep digging his hole.
Would guess Johnny has a numbered Swiss bank account.
Dear Harry, did you ask this same question when JD brokered the sale of Mid Med Bank to HSBC for a price that HSBC generates as a net profit figure in just 7 months?
Or are you very selective as to when to start throwing mud around?
Ooh, touchy. Saying that a millionaire like John Dalli might have a Swiss bank account is not “throwing mud”. They all do. We’re not in an anal Maltese court of law here.
Mandango, it’s clear that Labour no longer believes there was anything wrong with the Mid-Med sale. In fact, on the numerous times that Dalli has been guest of honour on One TV, no one ever asked him about it.
Do you realise that while the PN is “being prudent” (to use that awful euphemism) about the matter, Labour-leaning media and Mintoffian Internet trolls are openly defending Dalli?
Antoine Vella: Those who are not yet condemning John Dalli are doing what ALL Maltese should be doing, until such time that ALL the evidence is produced and a definite decision is taken by the authorities or the courts !
Dalli would probably do ,in the near future, a ‘Herbert Ganado’,and the PN has been sniffing it for months..
Those who are unashamedly trying to defend Dalli’s position in this sorry story have no idea how damaging this is to the reputation of our country.
We took decades to shrug off our embarrassingly close association with a neighbouring pariah state during the “golden years” and, as EU inhabitants of a tiny town-sized Mediterranean island south of Sicily, we have to live with a truckload of real and perceived prejudices stemming this fact alone. And now this mess!
Dalli’s resignation must be handled calmly and responsibly and a clear message sent out from all quarters (including the opposition) that, irrespective of the level of his involvement in the scandal, his position as an EU commissioner was untenable.
Hi, just came across John’s picture on Wikipedia…standing on a podium labelled “Christians in the Holy Land”…comical.
Wasn’t Dalli, when he was a minister, also involved with illicit trade by Iranain companies operating in Malta? Was it IRISL?
These companies operating in Malta were hunted down by the American and the Israeli secret service because they were importing radioacive material through our Freeport to be used to build a nuclear bomb to destroy Israel.
In my opinion this is a great opportunity for Malta to give itself a good lesson in acceptable public officials behaviour.
Dalli needs to be fully investigated, this means all his hard drives confiscated, full interrogations of all parties involved, and a request to all private banks to disclose information on any accounts in the name of Mr. Dalli or his offspring.
This is allowed if a person has been suspected of criminal activity, which is the case.
This man is accused by OLAF of criminal activity and he has also dragged the entire nation down with him so the only way Malta can regain it’s dignity is by either proving that Mr.Dalli is totally innocent beyond any reasonable doubt, or if he is guilty then he should pay the price like anyone else who breaks the law.
I would greatly admire any administration that carried out a full investigation into this matter, and provided a clear answer, guilty or innocent. Also I think it’s ridiculous that in all likelihood the Tax paying citizens who ultimately payed Mr.Dalli’s salary will never get sight of the OLAF report.
Anti-smoking campaigners accuse tobacco lobby after office break-in
http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/s7-RVRJ8kD71OI7nF8dg6uA/view.m?id=15&gid=world/2012/oct/18/anti-smoking-campaigners-accuse-tobacco-lobby-burglary&cat=world
Ronnie Agius thinks he’s helping Dalli but praise from him amounts to character assassination.
There can be no doubt that OLAF acted independently of any outside force in coming to a decision that Dalli knew that Zammit was talking to ESTOC.To think of OLAF as a henchman outfit stretches the mind to its limit.
As I see it, Zammit was informed by Dalli about the tobacco directives draft. Both knew that by January, the draft had been finalised.
Zammit introduces himself to ESTOC at sometime as a person whose personal relationship with Dalli could be useful to them. He persuades them that the directives are still in the oven and that Dalli would open to a bribe (thats the same word used by Dalli two days ago).
The Swedes, considering that Dalli is on the open market, notify OLAF of Zammit’s approaches. OLAF tells the Swedes to carry on and not to tip off Zammit. At some point after, as part of the sting, that famous email is sent by Inge to Zammit.
Dalli is secretly watched by OLAF, possibly using legal powers to hack into his emails. On the 11th July, OLAF finally confronts Dalli with its circumstantial evidence that he is aware of Zammit’s behaviour.
Dalli denies this blaming it all on hackers planting evidence on him. He comes out in public with an accusation that his local enemies are behind the plant and that he has made a report to the Malta police asking them to find the culprits. .
In fact, he does not make such report. Does he know in his heart that OLAF has been accessing his emails taking down copies? He knows that making a false police report is a crime.
Dalli is still at some ease because he knows that the directive has been put to bed and he cannot be accused of having been tampered with after the fact. Zammit knows this too.
Zammit knows he is scamming the Swedes. Does Dalli see the scam? If he does, he does not alert anyone. This is uncontested. He sticks to his hacking story.
OLAF knows that the hacking story is false and they wait again for Dalli to voluntarily give up Zammit or to resign for personal reasons. Dalli does neither. He does not know how much OLAF has found out.
The prize is big and substantial. It has not come in. Dalli does not inform Zammit that they are being investigated. Zammit is going to be the fall guy, the lone perpetrator. The EU will avoid a scandal if it can, so Dalli remains inert but not sure what is the extent of OLAF’s search.
The announcement of the directive is postponed. Barroso is being informed by OLAF of its findings. Still Dalli remains sticking to his alibi of being implicated by hackers planting evidence on his email account. There is a second postponement, but then Barroso is handed the OLAF report and has to act. Its now October and Barroso sees Dalli and asks him to resign or else.
The above is speculation but is it credible?