EU: Dalli Denies Wrongdoing over EU Tobacco

Source from:  Financial Times 10/19/2012

John Dalli, the former EU health commissioner brought down in a tobacco bribery scandal, has professed his innocence and challenged the commission's version of the events surrounding his departure. In a video interview with the New Europe newspaper, Mr Dalli said that José Manuel Barroso, the commission president, pressured him to resign after reading out the findings of a four-month investigation conducted by Olaf, the EU's anti-corruption watchdog. "I was asked for my resignation," said Mr Dalli, seeming to contradict a claim from Mr Barroso's spokesperson that the Maltese commissioner had "decided to resign". Mr Dalli also said that he was not given the opportunity to rebut findings from the report, and suggested that tobacco companies may have wanted to have him removed in order to avoid tougher regulation. He pointed to elements of the Olaf report, which he said concluded that no money had been passed in the affair and no EU policies had been altered, to defend his innocence. "The report stated that there was no proof at all that I was involved in any misdeeds," he said. The scandal has presented an unwelcome distraction for the commission as it prepares for a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the bloc's response to the eurozone crisis. Rather than go quietly, Mr Dalli – who now faces an investigation in Malta – appeared intent on mounting a public defence. He did so as new details emerged about the affair, in which a Maltese entrepreneur associated with the commissioner is alleged to have approached the Swedish Match tobacco company demanding payment to influence a forthcoming review of the EU's tobacco policy. The entrepreneur approached Swedish Match, a leading maker of snus, a smokeless form of tobacco, earlier this year through multiple channels – including the company's Brussels-based lobbyists and a smokeless tobacco trade group. His demands amounted to "several million euros," according to a person familiar with the matter, in exchange for a promise that Mr Dalli would lift an EU-wide ban on snus. Sweden enjoys an exemption under the terms of its 1995 accession to the EU. Giovanni Kessler, the Olaf head, acknowledged on Wednesday that there was no "direct evidence" that Mr Dalli had participated in such a scheme. But, Mr Kessler said, there were "a number of unambiguous, circumstantial pieces of evidence" indicating the commissioner was aware that a person close to him had repeatedly asked a company for money to influence legislation. "He was aware of this and he did not do anything to prevent, stop or report this," Mr Kessler said. A spokesperson for Mr Barroso said the tobacco review would be put on hold until a new health commissioner was installed, and that there was no evidence that other files handled by Mr Dalli may have been influenced through similar means. "This event shows that the EU's anti-corruption system works," she said. Enditem