Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/244624
3 News maltatoday, SUNDAY, 19 JANUARY 2014 Planned appointment raises stink inside Castille CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 The Labour government is expected to take a critical view of the appointment of Darmanin: as assistant to Joe Borg during his tenure as foreign minister, she was part of the trusted group of individuals answering to Richard Cachia Caruana, Malta's chief negotiator during EU accession, before he was made permanent representative to the EU in 2004. She would have also worked closely with Simon Busuttil, today Opposition leader, when he ran the Malta-EU Information Centre within the foreign ministry. She then moved to Brussels with Borg when he was appointed commissioner for fisheries, and then retained by John Dalli in 2009 when he was made responsible for health and consumer policy. In April 2013, Muscat broke ranks by appointing Dalli as his consultant on health policy after the Commissioner of Police indicated he will not press bribery charges against the former commissioner. Dalli was made Fire breaks out in Castille MIRIAM DALLI A fire that broke out yesterday morn- ing at Auberge de Castille, which houses the Office of the Prime Minister, is believed to have caused some €30,000 in damages. The reception area was left entirely gutted, the ceiling caved in, the floor cracked and office equipment – including computers and chairs – melted. Preliminary investigations confirmed that the fire was caused by an accidental short circuit. A magisterial inquiry will be opened since the Auberge is a government property. Fortunately, no one was injured, as the reception was closed at the time of the incident. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was away but his chief of staff Keith Schembri, Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and other government aides were in the building. The building was immediately evacuated as a precautionary measure. Even though the fire was contained within the reception area, smoke spread throughout the ground floor and the first floor. Sources said the smoke rendered the fire invisible to the naked eye. After immediately alerting the police and the Civil Protection Department, the soldiers stationed in the OPM, together with Castille's messengers, used two fire extinguishers to control the fire. Within minutes, officers from the Rapid Intervention Unit and the CPD were on site and the fire was put out. Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera is leading the inquiry. Commissioner of Police Peter Paul Zammit, Assistant Police Commissioner Neville Aquilina, the Bomb Disposal Unit and paramedics were on site. Joanna Darmanin (far left) during her time as Head of Cabinet for John Dalli (centre). Also pictured: Simon Busuttil (second from left) and David Casa (right) to resign in October 2012 by European Commission president José Barroso over an undisclosed report by antifraud agency OLAF, alleging he was aware of attempts to bribe him. A commission source in Brussels who spoke to MaltaToday on condition of anonymity described the news as "a typical act of political posturing". "The Commission was probably unimpressed by Muscat taking on Dalli as his advisor – they are obviously aware that appointing Darmanin is antagonistic to the government, given that she is Tonio Borg's head of cabinet." John Dalli himself had gone on record accusing Darmanin of leaking information to the Maltese press on his controversial trip to the Bahamas in August 2012, news of which was broken by the International Herald Tribune. The IHT reported claims by a Bahamas landlord who hosted Dalli as saying that he had told OLAF the former commissioner was organising a multi-million money transfer. But Dalli claimed he was in Bahamas to secure financing for an African charity, together with international benefactors. "The Cabinet found out about the Bahamas trip because I erroneously inserted that ticket stub for the Commission's budgetary verification. I was later told I could not be refunded for that voyage…. I have no doubt that it was Joanna Darmanin who was the source of this information."