Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1524298
13 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 JULY 2024 probity in snus investigation former Commision official, Michel Petite, now working for lobbyists Clifford Chance (whose clients included tobacco giant Phillip Morris); Petite went directly to Commission secretary-general Catherine Day with the allegations on Zammit and Dalli. OLAF was tasked to carry out the probe – a four-month slog over the summer of 2012 that started with Gayle Kimberley. Kessler gives Barroso firepower In the immediate aftermath of Silvo Zammit's arraignment in De- cember 2012, Dalli sought health treatment in Brussels. When elections were announced, with a three-month campaign starting in January 2013, any planned ar- raignment of Dalli was suspended. After Labour's election in March 2013, police chief John Rizzo was replaced; his successor Peter Paul Zammit was of a different opinion on prosecuting Dalli, who in 2014 was made an advisor to then prime minister Joseph Muscat. These fair winds allowed Dal- li to keep up his fight against his detractors, mainly Kessler, who after losing diplomatic immunity in 2016 could be prosecuted by Belgian investigators for having instructed Estoc to secretly record Silvio Zammit soliciting a mul- ti-million bribe. The definitive sentence against Kessler was issued in June 2024: a conditional release, downgraded from an original one-year prison sentence, for his illegal wiretap. Dalli toasted the symbolic victory this week, by declaring that a "cor- rupt conspiracy" is still exerting its influence – from within the Com- mission, the Maltese administra- tions, the forces of law and order, as well as the press. That Kessler exceeded the bounds of what a regular investi- gation should be, had been clear all along. But even more clear was José Barroso's enthusiasm in seeing Dalli leave the Commission days before his Tobacco Products Di- rective came into force. The OLAF investigation, flawed as it was, had given him enough firepower to see Dalli out of the Commission. Bar- roso moved fast, before the OLAF report could be taken out by its own supervisory committee for any alleged breach of procedure. He made sure OLAF announce the results of the investigation the very day its covering letter fell into Barroso's lap. Indeed, it had been Dalli's proce- dural mistake to voluntarily step out of the Berlaymont building, instead of forcing Barroso's hand to make him resign. As he told the European Court of Justice in Dalli's unsuccessful lawsuit for unfair dismissal, Barro- so said that upon reading OLAF's covering letter, he felt the "very serious accusations" of improp- er contacts with Gayle Kimber- ley – an unregistered lobbyist for Swedish Match – and knowledge of attempted bribery as claimed by OLAF, had pushed him to ask for his exit. Indeed, Barroso conceded that apart from Dalli's denials and OLAF stating there was "no con- clusive evidence of the direct par- ticipation" of Dalli as instigator or the mastermind of the bribe, the EC president felt that it was "bi- zarre" that Dalli kept questionable acquaintances like Silvio Zammit. He had to go. The Kimberley factor The other part of the bizarre snus triangle is the role of Maltese law- yer Gayle Kimberley. Kimberly was tasked by Swedish Match, through mutual contacts in her past role inside the EU in- stitutions, to secure a meeting with Dalli. In tiny Malta, she could count on a network of acquaint- ances who could take her there: she was intimate with a gaming authority colleague, Iosif Galea, who knew both Silvio Zammit and Dalli. But by the end of the OLAF in- vestigation, Kessler was recom- mending that Kimberley be also charged for her role in the affair. Today, it is arguable that Kim- berley was, in part, coaxing Silvio Zammit to either mollify Dalli, or utter the unspeakable to Swedish Match. On 13 February 2012, when Zammit told a visiting Swedish Match official at his own restau- rant in Sliema, to pay €60 million to lift the snus ban, the company told Kimberley to sever all contact with Zammit. But it did not stop there. On 29 February 2012, Kimberely and her husband Matthew sent Zammit the contents of a lobbying pro- posal via email: it was the recycled proposal Kimberley had sent to Swedish Match back in November 2011, requesting €5,000 to set up a meeting with Dalli for the com- pany. In the email, Kimberley's hus- band Matthew tells Zammit: "Silvio, suggest you forward this to Inge [Delfosse: Estoc secre- tary-general]. Gayle is in copy. You may like to wait for her input be- fore sending." On 2 March 2012, Matthew Kimberley advances Zammit a €3,540 bank transfer via his com- pany You Rock Ltd. On 8 March 2012, Zammit sends Estoc the email, erroneously leav- ing the original instruction from Kimberley – 'Re: Copy/paste pro- posal' – in the subject line. Estoc forwards the email to Swedish Match, whose vice-presi- dent Patrik Hildingsson tells Del- fosse that it was Zammit who had solicited €60 million for a meeting with Dalli to lift the snus ban. On 15 March, Delfosse tells Zammit she is confused at the proposal; when Zammit informs Kimberley, she reacts with some urgency: "Mela you left the title of email 'copy/paste proposal'???". She namedrops Iosif Galea – he was supposed to have confirmed the correct proposal to Estoc. And she scripts an answer for Zammit to send back to Delfosse. At 11:32pm, Zammit sends back the ghostwritten email: he was only using You Rock as consult- ants, but he is offering his services "alone and personally". OLAF is already on the case at this stage. On 29 March, Zammit calls Delfosse, and repeats his bribe re- quest, this time pared down to €10 million for a meeting "between my boss and your boss". OLAF chief Giovanni Kessler has all he needs. When Swedish Match alerted Kimberley of the copy-paste pro- posal, she writes back to her con- tact that she was unhappy about Zammit's misrepresentation. Un- der questioning by OLAF months later, she claimed she had told Zammit that her services were no longer available, "'Make it clear to whoever you are dealing with'. Sil- vio assured me that he would do this." Kessler must have been un- convinced. The conclusion of OLAF was that the indications were that Kimberly was involved in the bribe request, accusing her of contradictions in her testimony, and of denying contact with Zammit when phone records showed the contrary. "De- pending on the interpretation of the facts, she might be responsible for bribery and/or trading in influ- ence…" Why? OLAF investigators knew that Kimberley had lied about a second meeting on 10 February 2012 she had alleged to have had with Dalli – the day of St Paul's feast – sup- posedly the one in which Dalli was said to have moved out of the room in which Kimberley met him with Zammit by his side, while Zammit then floated the possibility of a bribe. On 13 February, Kimberley reported the fictitious meeting to her Swedish Match handler Johan Gabrielson. But as Gabrielsson revealed per- sonally to the French MEP José Bové in April 2013, it was OLAF who informed him that Kimberley had lied about this 'second meet- ing' with Dalli. Above: John Dalli with then European Commission president Manuel Barroso Left: Giovanni Kessler