‘Evidence Dalli knew what was going on’

“Hard evidence” exists to prove that former European Commissioner John Dalli was aware that Silvio Zammit was asking for money in his name, the chief of the EU anti-fraud agency told a restricted closed-doors meeting with group coordinators of the European Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee. Although awareness was not a crime in itself, it was clearly a breach of ethics and misconduct, Giovanni Kessler said at the meeting in Strasbourg. According to a source, Mr Kessler gave more details of OLAF’s investigations following a tip-off by the Swedish tobacco company Swedish Match. Admitting that OLAF had no proof of any criminal offences by Mr Dalli, Mr Kessler stressed it was evident that Mr Dalli had acted against the spirit of the Commissioners’ Code of Conduct and the Framework Convention of Tobacco Control “which Mr Dalli was well aware of”. “According to this convention, public servants cannot have contacts with the tobacco industry unless they declare it. Mr Dalli met them several times and did not declare it. This is a breach of the convention,” Mr Kessler told MEPs. Reiterating his declarations made the day after Mr Dalli’s resignation in Brussels, Mr...