Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/333851
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 JUNE 2014 News 7 FORMER European commissioner John Dalli (pictured) is said to be making it a point to be personally present in the General Court at the European Court of Justice, when on 7 July outgoing European Commis- sion president José Manuel Barroso testifies in a case of unfair dismissal. Dalli wants the EU's Court to es- tablish the legality of his dismissal, when his forced departure on 16 October 2012 was announced as a resignation by the European Com- mission. Dalli wants the ECJ to annul what he says was an oral demand by Bar- roso to vacate his office within 15 minutes of having informed him of the contents of an OLAF investiga- tion, claiming that Dalli was aware of a request to bribe him which he failed to report. Dalli is also demanding one euro in the form of a symbolic compen- sation. Theoretically, Dalli proceed for civil damages against the European Commission if he wins the case in the Luxembourg court. Also called in as witnesses will be Barroso's chief of staff Johannes Laitenberger; the director of legal services, Luis Romero Requena; Dalli's former chief of staff Joanna Darmanin, and his former spokes- person, Frederic Vincent. Dalli has always denied having been aware that Silvio Zammit, a Maltese restaurateur, had demand- ed a bribe from Swedish Match to influence tobacco laws that Dalli was reviewing and to lift an EU retail ban on snus, the smokeless tobacco produced by Swedish Match. Dalli claims that Swedish Match lobbyists and the European smoke- less tobacco lobby conspired to en- trap him in a bid to derail his harsher anti-smoking laws in the Tobacco Products Directive. Dalli has also instituted a defama- tion case against Swedish Match. The defamation case has led Belgian judge Jean Claude van Espen to open an investigation into OLAF, the EU anti-fraud agency, and individuals linked to the OLAF report. JAMES DEBONO AN application has been filed to regularise 15 industrial units which have been operating without a planning permit for the past 22 years in the Wied il-Ghasel valley along Burmarrad road. The entire site is currently occu- pied by various types of industrial activities, ranging from storage to panel beating, parking of coaches and trucks and storage and repair of boats. The Malta Environment and Planning Authority has turned down eight individual permit appli- cations presented in 2000 with the aim of regularising the industrial units in this Outside Development Zone area. However in 2006 the North West Local Plan policy designated the area as one where industrial devel- opment can be allowed. Originally the site was occupied by a poultry farm which had the necessary permits. But 22 years ago the owner decided to re-develop the site for industrial use. Eventu- ally the site was portioned into 15 industrial units and was sold to third parties. The land which is being proposed to be sanctioned has an area of 7,100 square metres. The site lies within an aquifer protection zone and is designated as a water catchment area. The applicants claim that to protect the aquifer they have already con- creted a substantial part of the site area in order to prevent any acci- dental spillages from filtering into the aquifer. The regularisation will ensure a more holistic development in the area, a Project Development State- ment presented by the developers claims. In addition the develop- ment will also be providing a car parking space for the employees and visitors alike. 'GOVERNMENT should put people's minds at rest on the extent of phone and email interceptions' Opposition MPs Kristy Debono and Jason Azzopardi yesterday called on the government to release the total number of phone taps and email interceptions made. "In 2014, people expect to be living in a free society and not one where the state acts like a big brother and listens in on their pri- vate conversation" Debono said. She added it was high time to come clean and "put people's minds at rest on the extent of phone and email interceptions in Malta." "We want proper auditing of the entire system of interception and greater transparency in order to safeguard public concerns in this area," Debono added. On his part, Azzopardi said that while certain interceptions are jus- tified for reasons of public security, "people need to have the comfort that this justification is not being abused." Noting that the law establishes a Monitoring Committee for the scrutiny of the Malta Security Serv- ices, with the participation of the Prime Minister, the Interior Min- ister and the Leader of the Opposi- tion, Azzopardi however said, "this committee has not met one single time since June of last year and no annual report was presented on the work of MSS." The two PN MPs signed an online petition launched by The Malta Independent, which comes in the wake of revelations that Vodafone has received 3,773 requests in Mal- ta for metadata leading to concerns that Malta is the most spied-on na- tion in the European Union. Malta is one of just eight Voda- fone countries where telephony operators are legally barred from providing information on the ex- tent of wire tapping. This puts Malta in the unlikely company of countries like Egypt, Albania, In- dia, South Africa, Qatar and Tur- key. Dalli to be present for Barroso testimony Wied il-Ghasel factories apply for sanctioning Opposition MPs call for greater transparency on phone tapping Dalli wants the EU's Court to establish the legality of his dismissal, and to annul what he says was a demand by Barroso to vacate his office