Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/475084
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 MARCH 2015 12 News MEPs declare war on Big Tobacco with new cross-party working group MATTHEW VELLA TWO members of the European Parliament who remain adamant that former European Commis- sioner John Dalli was forced to re- sign because of the tobacco lobby's influence in Brussels, have called on OLAF to explain why internal rules on investigative procedures were breached. In a list of questions sent to Gio- vanni Kessler, director of OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud agency, Green MEPs José Bové and Bart Staes asked why Kessler's investigators had told offi- cials of Swedish Match to lie about a meeting at which Dalli had not been present, and which implicated him in alleged bribery. Dalli's unceremonious resignation from the European Commission on 16 October, 2012 still manages to rile some MEPs. The former Mal- tese minister was accused of failing to report a bribery attempt by Sil- vio Zammit – currently in court on charges of bribery – to influence EU tobacco legislation and reverse a re- tail ban on smokeless tobacco snus, produced by Swedish Match. When OLAF's investigative report was leaked to MaltaToday in June 2013, it was revealed that a compro- mising meeting in which a bribe was discussed with Dalli, did not actually take place. Bové and Staes had stepped up the heat months before: Johann Gabriell- son, a Swedish Match official, admit- ted to Bové that he was instructed by OLAF to stick to that misleading ver- sion of events. In that version, Mal- tese lawyer Gayle Kimberley – the lobbyist hired by Swedish Match to curry favour with Dalli – was placed at the two meetings. Kimberley had concocted the second meeting with Dalli, giving the date of 12 February, 2012, and referred to it as something real with both the Maltese authori- ties and OLAF. Now the two MEPs have written to Kessler, accusing him that he and his services authored a "biased, partial, and manipulated" investigation to have Dalli resign. Bové and Staes want Kessler to answer as to why he did not interro- gate the Swedish authorities whom Swedish Match had already ap- proached on the bribery allegation; did not include OLAF's exchanges with EC secretary-general Catherine Day and Michel Petite, the former head of EC legal services turned lob- byist for Phillip Morris; why OLAF informed Swedish Match of its com- pleted investigation ahead of its of- ficial submission; and why they took the trouble to interrogate Dalli's main accuser, Gayle Kimberley, in Portugal. Crucially, they want to know why Kessler's services suggested to Jo- han Gabrielsson not to say that the 12 February, 2012 meeting had been fabricated by Kimberley. MEPs against Big Tobacco MEPs have now created a new cross-party working group to coun- ter the growing influence of the to- bacco companies. The group was put together by S&D deputy Gilles Pargneaux, who is a vice-chair of parliament's en- vironment, public health and food safety committee, at the behest of Paris councillor Pauline Delpech, who has been campaigning against the tobacco industry in France. Pargneaux called for the enforce- ment of article 5.3 of the World Health Organisation's framework convention on tobacco control, which requires all public health pol- icies on tobacco control to be safe from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry. José Bové, a member of the new group, accused the tobacco industry of "shopping around Europe with- out anyone getting in the way – this is an extremely serious threat to de- mocracy". He was especially critical of OLAF, which receives millions from tobac- co associations to fight counterfeit cigarette smuggling. He said this was proven in the case of the Dalli res- ignation, when his associate Silvio Zammit was accused of requesting €60 million from Swedish Match, in exchange for the commissioner's help to change tobacco rules. Bové claimed that Kessler "cov- ered up investigations into the mat- ter". Kessler was not the only Europe- an official to come under fire, with Belgian MEP Bart Staes accusing budget and human resources com- missioner Kristalina Georgieva, "or perhaps members of her staff and even OLAF representatives [of] en- tering into secret negotiations with tobacco manufacturers" to come up with a new agreement. The European Commission cur- rently has a deal with the four main tobacco companies (Philip Morris International, Japan Tobacco, Brit- ish American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco Limited) under which they pay a collective total of €1.9 billion to the EU to take steps to prevent the illegal trade of cigarettes. 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Entrants with more than one entry WILL NOT be considered. Entrants must send a description of photo. 2. Winners will be informed before the end of the week, and then announced on maltatoday.com.mt and MaltaToday on Sunday. 3. By entering this offer, entrants consent to their photos being published and owned by Mediatoday Co Ltd. 4. The entrant with the best photograph will be awarded two (2) return tickets, valid for travel to any Virtù Ferries destination. Mediatoday's decision is final. 5. Tickets are issued free of charge, excluding port charges, and in accordance with Virtù Ferries' rules and regulations. All taxes and charges are to be paid accordingly by the winning entrant upon the issuance of tickets. 6. This offer is closed to employees and contributors of Mediatoday Co. Ltd and Virtù Ferries, or their family members. José Bové – pressing questions on Kessler