Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1151507
3 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 AUGUST 2019 YANNICK PACE FORMER European Commis- sioner John Dalli has accused Dutch MP Pieter Omtzigt of reproducing unverified allega- tions about him in a Council of Europe report on Malta. Dalli was mentioned in the MP's report investigating the government's handling of the investigation into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia as well as the rule of law in Malta. Dalli resigned his post at the European Commission after he was asked to step down by then Commission president José Barroso when a report by the EU's anti-fraud agency OLAF claimed to have circumstantial evidence that Dalli was aware of an attempt at soliciting a €60 million bribe for him to reverse a retail ban on snus tobacco. In a nine-page letter Dalli sent to Omtzigt, copied to the press, he accuses the Dutch MP of depriving him of the op- portunity to defend himself, despite the fact that a number of other individuals had been interviewed before the report was prepared. "This indicates that as far as I am concerned, you have repro- duced spurious information which were (sic) fed to you by the megalomaniac hatemon- gers in Malta and which you endorsed without verifying the allegations. This not only shows that you are shallow and irresponsible, but also that you cannot be trusted with produc- ing an objective contribution in the fight against corrup- tion," Dalli wrote. He went on to refute claims that he was only able to avoid prosecution over the bribery claims because the newly- elected Labour government had in 2013 moved to remove police commissioner John Riz- zo, who was leading the inves- tigation. Dalli accused Omtzigt of re- producing allegations fed to by a "top megalomaniac hate monger", who sits with him in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a clear reference to Nationalist MP Ja- son Azzopardi. "When occupying an execu- tive position in our govern- ments [he] did not amount to anything, except to give public property to private entrepre- neurs for a pittance," Dalli said, adding that in reality it was Azzopardi who was disgraced. Dalli also took issue with be- ing referred to as a "disgraced" former commissioner, insist- ing that he had never been in- volved in any request for mon- ey and that the accusations against him were a "fantasy" contrived by OLAF. He said that he had stepped down as commissioner only for him to be able to defend him- self properly. Dalli also refuted claims about him which he said had come from the "perverse blog- ger", no doubt a reference to the late Daphne Caruana Gali- zia, including suggestions he was in some way linked to the company 17 Black, the compa- ny Egrant or the VGH hospital privatisation. "I hope that you have the de- cency to apologise publicly," Dalli said. "I also hope that a genuine sense of duty would spur you to investigate the commission for the impunity granted to their officials." CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Hoteliers and law-abiding opera- tors have long complained that a lack of enforcement was allowing some to gain an unfair advantage by avoiding taxes by operating without a licence. Arrears on unpaid taxes Tourists staying in private accom- modation made up a quarter of all visitors to Malta in 2013, equivalent to 392,605 individuals. By 2018, the number had increased to 947,292, or 36.5% of all tourists visiting Malta, and the numbers continue to increase. In order bring the market under control, the MTA has over the past two years invested in "tools" to be able to identify unlicensed operators, with sources claiming that the authority would soon be upping the scale of its enforcement operations. Any action, they said, would be car- ried out in collaboration with the In- land Revenue Department, and would see those who have been operating without a licence forced to pay any arrears to be allowed to continue op- erating. They said that ultimately it wasn't a matter of closing these apartments down, because the demand for tour- ist accommodation will continue to increase. "The idea will be to ensure that there is a level playing field that everyone is operating according to the rules," a well-placed source said. Anyone renting out their apart- ment for short holiday lets is obliged to register and obtain a licence from the MTA. In addition to paying the applicable taxes, such as VAT and income tax, landlords must also col- lect an eco-contribution of €0.50c per person per night and pass it on to the authorities. Not just a matter of running an on- line search Speaking to MaltaToday last year, Malta Hotels and Restaurants As- sociation president Tony Zahra had stressed that government had an obli- gation to ensure that rules are obeyed, insisting that there was no reason for unlicensed operators to be allowed to continue operating. "It's not rocket science, most of these apartments are listed online, so it's just a matter of taking the list of registered apartments and cross- checking with online listings," Zahra had said. However, the sources said this made the issue seem simpler than it was, since it wasn't always easy to iden- tify the location of unlicensed apart- ments. This, they said, was especially true of apartments listed on Airbnb, which doesn't include addresses in its listings. "You get a situation where you know someone is renting out an apartment in Sliema, for example, but you have no idea where in Sliema it is." In a bid to address this situation, Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi re- cently said that an agreement had been reached with the popular holiday website Booking.com, through which only apartments registered with the MTA will be allowed to advertise their apartments on the platform. Mizzi had said that similar agree- ments were being sought with Tri- pAdvisor and Airbnb, however, talks with Airbnb have so far proved un- successful, the sources said. Authorities to clamp down on unlicensed holiday apartments John Dalli pens angry letter to Dutch MP Former EU Commissioner John Dalli Dutch MP Pieter Omtzigt