Dalli interview: ‘My decisions on tobacco directive had been leaked’

A week after his fall from grace at the European Commission, John Dalli insists he has done nothing wrong and instead points a finger at “hidden hands” in Malta and abroad, and even at “GonziPN”. He also tells Mark Micallef that allowing canvassers to act as middlemen with lobbyists is not an unhealthy practice. Did you communicate with the Prime Minister at some point after you got to know about the OLAF investigation? We had a meeting once, on other issues, and he mentioned that he knew. This was when the investigation all started. He knew what was happening. When was this? I completely forget the dates but it must have been by the end of July, something like that... Naturally, I spoke to him over the phone. What was the response? Nothing extraordinary. The Prime Minister said, I spoke to (European Commission President Jose Manuel) Barroso... but even he did not know what the motivation was (behind the main claim against Mr Dalli) because it (the report) is confidential... You have complained that the EU Anti-Fraud Agency, OLAF, did not give you the opportunity to rebut its report before it was published. Did you query this? I have queried it in many statements that...