What is John Dalli’s special interest in China?
Published:
November 4, 2014 at 10:22am
Here he is, expanding his China network both as Malta’s Social Policy Minister in 2008 and then again as EU Commissioner in 2012. And that’s just what comes up instantly via the official internet coverage of the Maltese embassy in Beijing and the European Commission press office archives.
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http://www.foreign.gov.mt/default.aspx?MDIS=342&NWID=213
He must have been organising a convention for his delegates.
Why is this ‘special interest’? I would have been even more surprised if, as EU commissioner, he did not have on-going talks with China, especially on the issue of food safety and consumer issues.
[Daphne – John Dalli, Chris, uses his official positions to increase his own personal work network, contacts and opportunities for private business. That is how it was when he was a cabinet minister in Malta from 1987 onwards (Libya in particular) and you can rest assured that this is exactly how it would have been when he was EU Commissioner. In fact, it was one of the reasons why I argued in print that it was wrong to put him in that job – because he would see it as nothing but a platform to increase his business network, contacts and money-making opportunities, and that it would eventually bring him down because scrutiny at EU Commissioner level is higher and tolerance lower than they are in Malta and he would be found out and kicked out. And so it transpired.]
My comment was not meant to be a Dalli defence, but I think it is never a good idea to damn by inference.
Whilst, I agree, there is a lot of smoke, especially based on Dalli’s previous shady record, I think it is always appropriate to find proof of a fire. It makes for a stronger case.
And this is where you are absolutely right to damn our media. Instead of being lap dogs copy and pasting irrelavant press releases, they should be chasing the real stories. I would rather have four pages of substance then 60 of dross. That is why ‘Mhux fl-interess..’ was such an essential read and a lethal weapon for the PN. Perhaps this story will wake up journalists to what their real jobs are. until they bite the hand of anotehr taskmaster!
As to the appointment of John Dalli as EU Commissioner in the first place, well, that is one of many mistakes made by Gonzi. ( along with surrounding himself with one of the most spectacular group of incompetant and back-stabbing advisers you can imagine)
And China was a god-send when Gaddafi, Libya and Brussels went belly-up.
What were the direct follow-ups to that visit that directly benefitted the Ministry of Social Policy and Malta?
Not the then Minister of Social Policy directly.
Aren’t such people accountable even long after they leave office?
What about Shiv Nair? Does he have a part to play in all this too?
The author of Labour’s energy plan author is probably no other than Johnny Dalli.
Do you remember him three years ago on Super One TV, going on because he wanted to sell a power station to the PN government and was refused? This when he was an EU Commissioner.
Probably, he is still selling a power station, only this time not in the name of Sargas.
Ah, 2012.
This was around the time when a certain Ethelbert Cooper from Liberia but with a residential address in the exclusive Chelsea Harbour of London started signing “strategic partnership deals” between his Seychelles company, the African Iron Ore Group, and Chinese State owned enterprises, like the China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), China Railway Materials and China Railway Group.
According to international media, AIOG will be funding billions of dollars from the Chinese companies for iron ore projects in Guinea and other places in Africa, which include the building of railways and power plants.
According to media reports, Cooper and the AIOG set up a BVI company for their interest in the Guinean projects.
Incidentally, in 2014, Gasol plc – a company chosen in 2013 by the incoming Labour government of Malta to lead a consortium involving some important Maltese businessmen which is tasked with the construction of a new power station project in Malta – also signed strategic agreements with AIOG and CMEC.
I am not saying that the events are related to the China visits by Dalli, but I am not excluding this either. Especially because like “Calculator” above, I am also wondering if there is a connection between Dalli and Shiv Nair.
Maybe he’ll make it his future home?
It was Adam who got the first bite of the apple. It was Adam who had to face the music for doing it. Sounds more like a Dalli saga than a bibilical passage.