Former EU Health Commissioner John Dalli never showed any interest in philanthropic or charitable activities, his former Head of Cabinet Joanna Darmanin told Olaf when interviewed following his secret July 2012 Bahamas trip became public.
Olaf – the European Union’s anti-fraud agency – launched a fresh investigation into Mr Dalli’s activities as EU Commissioner after it transpired that he secretly travelled to the Bahamas for the weekend of 7-8 July, while he was on official duties in Cyprus.
The investigation is still ongoing.
Mr Dalli was supposed to attend an informal dinner with EU Health Ministers while in Cyprus, but pulled out unexpectedly. He told his staff that he had to attend to “urgent family matters in Malta”. Once his Bahamas trip became public knowledge, in July 2013, he justified it by saying that he went to the island tax haven on philanthropic work.
His former Head of Cabinet – who would have been aware of all official engagements and meetings carried out by Mr Dalli – was clearly incredulous when asked by Olaf whether the former EU Commissioner engaged in philanthropic work.
“Simply not. Never heard about it and it is completely new to me. He never showed any interest in this (sic) type of activities,” Ms Darmanin told Olaf.
The interview with Joanna Darmanin conducted by Olaf – of which The Malta Independent on Sunday has seen a transcript – gives an insight into the urgency of Mr Dalli’s trip to the Bahamas.
“[On] Friday 6 July at around 17:30 Brussels time (18:30 Cyprus time) I started to hear JD’s [John Dalli’s] secretary Claire Grech to get upset because JD called her to ask SG [Commission Secretary General Catherine Day] to cancel his attendance at the informal dinner hosted by Commissioner Vassilou because he has urgent family matters in Malta.
“SG replied that he can do as he wants but it would be rude to cancel at such a late stage” Joanna Darmanin told Olaf investigators in an interview that took place on 22 July 2013.
In a subsequent interview on 26 July 2013, Ms Darmanin clarified that the conversation she overheard must have taken place on 5 July, as Mr Dalli’s secretary was on leave the following day.
Silvio Zammit, the man charged with soliciting a €60 million bribe to help overturn a ban on the sale of Snus (a smokeless tobacco), was interviewed by Olaf on 4-5 July.
Mr Zammit led tobacco lobbyists to believe that his “boss” could help overturn an EU ban on Snus, which can only be sold in Sweden. During the interview, when asked who his boss was, Mr Zammit replied: “God”.
On 6 July – the day before Mr Dalli’s Bahamas trip – he had a 15-minute telephone conversation with Mr Zammit.
Mr Dalli says the call was about the “unfortunate state of health of a mutual friend”. He says Mr Zammit did mention that someone from Brussels was talking to him, though he denies that Mr Zammit alerted him to Olaf’s investigation
Mr Dalli was obliged to resign as EU Commissioner on October 2012 on the basis of Olaf’s first investigation due to “unambiguous circumstantial evidence”, mainly based on Mr Dalli’s meetings with tobacco lobbyists and the timing of his telephone conversations with Mr Zammit.
Instead of returning from Malta Dalli returned via London
Ms Darmanin told investigators she remembers Mr Dalli flew to Malta on the morning of 7 July 2012, and was supposed to return from Malta to Cyprus on 9 July 2012, but instead returned from London-Heathrow.
He never explained why he returned from London-Heathrow instead of Malta, and at this point Ms Darmanin was unaware of his Bahamas trip.
“I did not receive any explanation about it [his arrival from London]. Due to JD’s late arrival in Cyprus he did not participate in the informal ministerial dinner... I believe the London-Larnaca trip was never reimbursed by the Commission,” she said.
Ms Darmanin told investigators that she recalls seeing a boarding card marked LHR-NAS (London Heathrow-Nassau [the Bahaman capital]) on the desk of Chris Cassar – the person responsible for organising Mr Dalli’s travel arrangements.
She said she thought the trip was related to Mr Dalli’s travels to the USA in June 2012, thinking that ‘NAS’ stood for some US airport.
“Only after the press articles about [the] Bahamas and JD admitting to go [sic] I realised that ticket must have been related to this travel [sic]. I do not know what happened to this boarding pass.
“I asked Mr Cassar and he confirmed that he did not make any travel arrangement for [the] Bahamas trip of JD. I do not know why the boarding pass was given to Mr Cassar,” she said.
Olaf questions Dalli’s activities in Libya and Egypt and links to fraudster
Olaf’s second investigation into Mr Dalli’s activities as EU Health Commissioner does not stop at his Bahamas trips.
Investigators are also showing an interest in Mr Dalli’s activities in Egypt and Libya.
They asked Ms Darmanin specifically about a Medical Fair Mr Dalli was invited to attend in Egypt in May 2012.
When Ms Darmanin learnt of the invitation through Mr Cassar, she corresponded directly with Mr Dalli advising him to inform the European External Action Services (EEAS) and the EU Commissioner responsible for neighbourhood policy.
“If I remember correctly, Mr Cassar told me that following my email Mr Dalli said there was no need to consult Cab Fule [the EU Commissioner for neighbourhood policy] and the EEAS because there will be no official trip to Egypt. I understood by then that JD cancelled his trip to Egypt. I did not receive any feedback from JD directly on this travel,” she told Olaf.
She told investigators that she later overheard Mr Cassar saying Mr Dalli went to Egypt anyway on “private travel” without informing the EU.
Ms Darmanin said she did not “react” when she learnt Mr Dalli went to Egypt anyway, as it was private travel over a weekend.
She told investigators that Mr Dalli had wanted to go to Libya in March 2012 on an official visit, but the trip was cancelled.
“A couple of weeks later JD wanted again to undertake an official trip to Libya to meet the Minister of Health, but following advice by either the security directorate or Fule Cabinet [the EU Commissioner for neighbourhood policy] he was persuaded not to go. But I have no other recollection of any trips to Libya, either professional or private,” she said.
Dalli and international fraudster Mary Swan
Olaf asked Ms Darmanin whether she had any knowledge of Mary Swan and her connection to the Dalli family.
The Malta Independent on Sunday columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia has reported that Ms Swan is an international fraudster who was based in Malta for at least two years.
Ms Darmanin told Olaf that she had heard Ms Swan’s name come up once.
“I heard this name because apparently once he went to Luxembourg to some health clinic for [a] weekend during winter 2011. He invited me to come along also with his younger daughter Louise for [a] complete medical check-up. I declined the invitation. While leaving the room I heard one of assistants [sic] say that the clinic is of Mary Swan. I asked who it is[sic], they said it [sic] is an elderly lady very rich, owning a health Clinique in Luxembourg. All other names of Mary Swan reported in [the] press are not known to me.”
She was also questioned as to whether she knew anything about the companies TriZellion International and Tyre Ltd.
TriZellion advertises itself as offering “next-generation cell-based therapies” that can help solve ailments ranging from diabetes to cancer.”
It describes itself as being in the process of “establishing state-of-the-art clinics in Europe and North America, with the first clinic being established in Frankfurt, Germany.
Ms Darmanin told Olaf that she knew nothing about this company, and there were no official meetings between Mr Dalli and TriZellion representatives.
“Normally any request for a meeting with the Commissioner should have gone through me for my approval, but I do not remember any request for a meeting with JD concerning this company,” she told Olaf.
Regarding Tyre Ltd, the company registered at Mr Dalli’s Portomaso address, Ms Darmanin said she had only heard of it through press reports linking it to Mr Dalli’s older daughter.
The villa in which Mr Dalli stayed during his Bahamas trip was rented by Tyre Ltd, although Mr Dalli denies any direct links with the company.
In an interview with The Malta Independent last week, Mr Dalli said he did not discuss money in the Bahamas nor did he meet any financial institutions or any employees of a financial institution.
The paper that lifted the lid on Mr Dalli’s secret Bahamas trip –The International Herald Tribune – reported that he went to the Caribbean island to move millions, a claim that Mr Dalli vehemently denies.
Ms Darmanin told Olaf that she knows of two or three private email accounts used by Mr Dalli in addition to his official Commission ones.
Dalli told Darmanin to ‘fish out’ last year’s declaration of interests
Another aspect touched upon in Olaf’s second John Dalli probe is his declaration of interests filed with the EU Commission.
Ms Darmanin explained that three declarations were filed by Mr Dalli in 2010, 2011 and 2012, although the latter two were essentially copies of the 2010 declaration.
In an email exchange annexed to Olaf’s interview with Ms Darmanin, Mr Dalli instructs her to “Fish out [the] last declaration submitted”.
Ms Darmanin did as instructed, with Mr Dalli duly informing her that no changes were required to the previous year’s declaration.
In his 2012 declaration, Mr Dalli lists nine directorships he had held over the previous 10 years. He did not list any shares or other stock holdings in companies.
Under the assets section, he listed his Portomaso home, as well as a house in Qormi, land in Siġġiewi and a house in Tripoli, Libya.