Updated | Kesslergate: Secret chats revealed

Passages of online chat and email exchanges given to John Rizzo in November and December 2012 but the former commissioner never concluded the investigations on these messages.

Giovanni Kessler
Giovanni Kessler

Former police commissioner John Rizzo was in possession of evidence of online chats and email exchanges, which allegedly show high-ranking officials at the Office of the Prime Minister and the Representation of the European Commission in Valletta, discuss John Dalli between March and October 2012.

The transcripts of these 'secret chats' were passed on to Rizzo by John Dalli, who received them from an anonymous source.

Among the persons who discussed Dalli in the secret chats, one person chatting from the Office of the Prime Minister on a Samsung device was named 'L.O.U.I.S' while another person was named 'DR. GK'.

While it is unclear who L.O.U.I.S is, coincidently the Italian EU's anti-fraud office chief Giovanni Kessler's initials are GK, as are those of Maltese lawyer and lobbyist Gayle Kimberly.

Both Kessler and Kimberly have the initials GK and in one excerpt L.O.U.I.S. writes to GK in broken Italian.

Throughout the secret chats, in which at least five persons are involved, John Dalli is consistently referred to as 'JDALLIBA ['liba' being a Maltese vulgar term for sperm].

The chats between these five persons include a number of messages on 15 October 2012, the day in which Kessler, head of the European Anti-Fraud Office, OLAF, handed over the Dalli report to European Commission President Manuel Jose Barroso.

One day later, Dalli met Barroso in Brussels, where Barroso asked Dalli to resign, threatening that he would dismiss him if he didn't comply.

Records of the secret chats on 21 October 2012, show L.O.U.I.S write: "Cari Amici, Dobbiamo incontriamo questa settimana o la prossima. Fatemi sapere, ma il meeting e urgente." ('Dear friends, we need to meet this week or next. Let me know, but the meeting is urgent').

Passages of the online chat and email exchanges were given to Rizzo in November and December 2012 by Dalli's lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell. However, the former commissioner never concluded the investigations on these messages.

Current Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit failed to answer MaltaToday's questions about the investigations on the secret chat evidence.

One of the persons involved in the chats, L.O.U.I.S, who allegedly chatted from a station at Castille, was also accused by Dalli's lawyer of having been behind a series of blogs on Dalli in April.

Dalli had asked the Police Commissioner John Rizzo to investigate a series of anonymous blogs that had attacked him some time in February when his name was being floated as a possible candidate for the party leadership.

Earlier this month, MaltaToday revealed that there is no criminal evidence to arraign or accuse former commissioner John Dalli. Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit said that the police investigations in relation to the OLAF report were ongoing, but as things stood right now, there is no evidence to incriminate John Dalli.

Dalli, a former PN leadership contender and longstanding finance minister, served as EU health commissioner until he was forced to resign. He has always insisted that he was a victim of the tobacco lobby and the various political interests in Brussels and Malta.

Dalli has maintained that he never knew of any bribe, nor that he masterminded one, and that he never had any intention of watering down the tobacco directive. He has since returned fire at Barroso, president of the European Commission, and at Catherine Day, EC secretary, accusing them of stalling the tobacco directive, which has yet to come into force.

On the other hand, OLAF chief Giovanni Kessler is under immense pressure by MEPs and the media to step down following a number of revelations which expose a series of shortcomings in the OLAF investigations on Dalli.   

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Dalligate, Kesslergate or whatever is growing to be a huge implosion for Gonzi PN, Simon PN, or whatever
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Evidenza cara turi li kien hemm kongura kbira minn nies tal-Gvern f'Kastilja kontra Dalli! Ghallura jekk jien nghid ' l.ba' quddiem pulizija jarrestani, waqt li Rizzo il-Kummissarju tal-Pulizija ma qal xejn meta sema lil dawn jitkellmu hekk fuq ex ministru u cittadin Malti? Hadd ma jikkonvincini li ma kienx hemm tahwida manja u intricci kbar bejn l-politika ta GonziPN u l-apparat ta l-istat-jigifieri il-Pulizija- li sa issa ghadhom kollha maghluqin go kaxxa! Simon Busuttil jista jaghtina xi hjiel ta x'inhi il-pozizzjoni tieghu dwar dan? Dawk responsabli ghal dawn ic-chats ghandhom kariga ukoll importanti taht it-tmexxija tieghu fil-Partit?
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whats still puzzles me to this day is,WHY didn't john dalli refused to resign in the first place if he wasn't guilty of anything? in his place i would have refused to step down if i knew that i committed no crime.i am sorry mr dalli i still have my doubts concering this case
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And all this illegality took place under the patch and under the responsibility of Dr Godwin Grima, the Head Perm Sec who promoted twice or more Rita Schembri to her final position as Perm Sec. While the PL requested political responsibility from the previous GONZIPN, equally administrative responsibility should be sought from Dr Grima and others. They cannot get away with "murder", that is the political assassination of the Honourable John Dalli.
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wouldn't an Italian say 'dobbiamo incontrarci'?
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Salvino Giusti I strongly believe that the police are duty bound to investigate whether parts of the exchanges quoted above are in fact attributable to Giovanni Kessler and in the affirmative whether, under the Foreign Interference Act, he was effectively meddling in the internal political affairs of a sovereign State, member of the European Union.
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Information which the former police commissioner had in hand but failed to take action. I smell something fishy ! Could it be that John Rizzo was not the portrayed saint after all.
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The standard of the written italian is a shame.
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I lkike the change of name form Dalligate to Kesslergate.
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It would be very interesting to hear comments by the PN opposition mainly form Simon Busutill if not Gonzi himself!
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………One day later, Dalli met Barroso in Brussels, where Barroso asked Dalli to resign, threatening that he would dismiss him if he didn't comply………. We should do the same, we should boycott the EU for framing and threatening Mr John Dalli. We should also insist that European Commission President Manuel Jose Barroso and OLAF chief Giovanni Kessler should be listed as “Persona Non Grata” in Malta. These and others like them should know that although we fight between us politically they should keep in mind what Mikel Anton Vassali wrote “ U Malta qamet f’daqqa u ghajtet jien Maltija, Miskin min ikkasbarni, miskin min jidhaq bija”. A recent proof was the last election result. Niftakar fil film Ben Hur u it-tkaxkira li qala Messala . Justice Delayed is Justice denied!
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JDALLIBA .... Loooooool