All through last week, allegations continued to spread regarding Mr Dalli and rumours were rife regarding his immediate future. Waves of speculation swirled around the country especially on Thursday with reports in the ministries and the government departments stating they were “certain” Mr Dalli was about to offer his resignation.

This was immediately and forcefully denied by Mr Dalli himself who seemed to have been left on his own to fend off the tidal waves of speculation regarding his political future. Mr Dalli was equally vociferous in denying any wrongdoing but he is finding that the Prime Minister is growing more distant.

The allegations

The first allegation surfaced some weeks ago and was made public by Labour leader Alfred Sant.

It regards the visit by an Iranian government delegation to Malta a few months ago and a decision made by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line to switch its Malta representation from a Maltese established company to a company, the Gauci Borda Shipping Company, where people related to Mr Dalli, including his daughter and her husband, and other relatives, as well as people from his political entourage, are involved. The Iranian company also entered into an agreement with Malta Freeport.

As reported by this paper last Sunday, Mr Dalli has denied parts of the allegations made by Dr Sant and specifically the allegation that he “stole” the Iranian delegation away from a reception given in their honour by their previous business partners, and entertained them instead in his own house.

Mr Dalli also denied he had been instrumental in bringing the delegation to Malta and argued that plans and contacts to bring the delegation predated his appointment as Foreign Minister.

A second allegation, which surfaced on Wednesday in The Times, concerned a different issue.

It regarded another company, Tourist Resources Ltd, which is linked through shareholding to Gauci Borda Shipping Ltd.

It is being alleged that the company has recently been given work related to foreign travel by Foreign Ministry officials, work which has allegedly amounted to a turnover of Lm40,000 worth of bookings so far.

People who offered to defend Mr Dalli told this newspaper that using such a company made sense for the Foreign Ministry as it does not always get a good service when it comes to booking flight tickets, and anyway Air Malta does not fly to all destinations used by ministry officials. And the company only retains a percentage of the total bookings, which would amount to some Lm1,600 for the Lm40,000 bookings.

The issue however is, how did this particular company get this contract only a few weeks after Mr Dalli was appointed foreign minister? It is known there are many travel companies which do this work but Mr Dalli told The Times that as far as he knows the ministry always asks for quotations and chooses the lowest one. He said he did not know when the ministry started using this company as he does not get involved in such administrative decisions. But the foreign ministry source who spoke out in favour of Mr Dalli confirmed that the company had only started being used by the Foreign Ministry recently.

In the meantime other people asked if there is a parallel case here, for instance whether the Finance Ministry used the same company when Mr Dalli was Finance Minister.

The company was set up by Mr Dalli himself in 1995 with himself and his former driver, now a Foreign Ministry official who accompanied him to China, together with one of Mr Dalli’s daughters, as directors. However, they all resigned on 1 November 1998 and the company is now in the sole charge of one person.

How could ministry officials be expected to go into the history of each and every company they come in contact with, asked the pro-Dalli source.

Prime Minister “not

comfortable” with Mr Dalli

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi called Mr Dalli to the Auberge de Castille on Wednesday evening and asked him to submit a detailed report on the allegations being made against him.

This, in itself, is a serious distancing stance on the part of Dr Gonzi. In his monthly press conference two Fridays ago Dr Gonzi had refrained from supporting Mr Dalli and called for more information, even though he criticised the Leader of the Opposition for his “mud-slinging”. Here, he was actually asking the man against whom the allegations were being made to submit a report.

But in an interview with Steve Mallia on Thursday, Dr Gonzi admitted he is “not comfortable” with having Mr Dalli in charge of Malta Enterprise and even conducting negotiations abroad with other foreign ministers when these kind of allegations and revelations were being made.

That is why, he insisted, he needed to have these allegations cleared as soon as possible. He also did not rule out anything whatsoever, not even sacking Mr Dalli.

“No witch-hunt”

Official sources yesterday told this paper there is no witch-hunt going on, not just against Mr Dalli but against anyone.

In his interview to The Times Dr Gonzi said that allegations of this sort are taken very seriously and must be investigated.

“I insist,” Dr Gonzi said, “that we should have the highest ethical, moral, political standards – which also means that people should not prejudge the issue.”

Official sources insist that Dr Gonzi has not taken any position himself and will do so only after Mr Dalli submits his report and after he (Dr Gonzi) has all the facts at his disposal.

Politically, however, many are asking how can two such persons, who now find themselves so distant from each other that business between them has to be conducted through written reports, co-exist in the same Cabinet and as a Foreign Minister should relate to his Prime Minister.

Some were expecting the situation to reach a climax in the days preceding the European poll. It is now clear that there must be a clear decision and that its timeframe has nothing to do with the elections. Dr Gonzi said: “It is not a question of after the elections or before the elections. I think it is a question of taking the right decision.”

Official sources however have totally ruled out any talk of a Cabinet reshuffle after the election, aimed perhaps at making Mr Dalli’s eventual easing out of Cabinet less traumatic.