Ex-Police Chief John Rizzo details discrepancies in John Dalli's statements on bribery allegations

Silvio Zammit remained resolute about his bribery allegations about disgraced former EU Commissioner John Dalli, even after the Commissioner of Police of the day had warned him of the consequences should they turn out to be false, a court has heard this morning.

Retired Commissioner of Police, John Rizzo, took the witness stand as the criminal proceedings against Dalli continued before magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo on Wednesday. Dalli is facing charges of trading in influence and bribery in connection with an alleged €60 million bribery bid in 2011/12, aimed at overturning an EU-wide ban on snus, a form of smokeless tobacco, during Dalli’s tenure as European Commissioner.

Dalli had stepped down as European Commissioner in September 2012 amidst accusations by the Commission president José Barroso, after an investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) that showed he had been in contact with restaurateur Silvio Zammit when the latter had been soliciting bribes from a Swedish snuff tobacco company seeking the end of a retail ban on its products. No transaction between the company and the entrepreneur was concluded and no payment was made to Dalli.

Ex-Police Commissioner takes the witness stand

Rizzo took the witness stand, to describe how the investigation started. In mid-October 2012, the Attorney General had asked the police to investigate an allegation of bribery concerning Dalli, then still a European Commissioner.

The police had carried out a completely new investigation, Rizzo said. “It was literally afresh, we didn’t discard what OLAF found, but we put it to one side and investigated it ourselves.”

The police had spoken to representatives of Swedish Match, a manufacturer of smokeless tobacco and ESTOC, a union of smokeless tobacco producers, at OLAF headquarters.

“At the conclusion of our investigation, it emerged that this issue had started around 2010, when a meeting with Dalli had been requested by Mr Hammargren, the ESTOC chairman at the time. They had asked Zammit to organise this meeting with Dalli, which eventually took place at a hotel where Dalli was staying at in Gozo. British American Tobacco representative Charles Farrugia was also present for this meeting, Rizzo said.

When questioned about this meeting, Dalli had given the police the impression that he didn’t know who he was meeting or why, but this was “absolutely not true”, Rizzo went on. 

“It emerged during the investigation that several informal meetings had taken place which should not have taken place.” This emerged from what was said to OLAF, from Dalli’s statements to OLAF, and the prohibition by Barroso on holding informal meetings, he said. 

Rizzo said that investigations showed that Dalli, together with his friend Mario Mercieca, had travelled to Stockholm from where he had called up Hammargren to set up a meeting. Hammargren had only just resigned from ESTOC, being replaced by Inge Delfosse. All three had met in Stockholm, where much had been made of Zammit’s friendship with Dalli.  

“This was the first time that Gayle Kimberley was mentioned. She was a lawyer in the Gaming and Lotteries Department who also had experience in the EU institutions,” said the witness. 

“Several phone calls were made…The phone calls between Dalli, Kimberly, Zammit and occasionally Galea, would take place after almost every meeting.” The police had questioned Kimberly, who said that she had been satisfied after the cordial meeting with Dalli, whom she described as “willing to listen, although he is against smoking.”

Zammit told Kimberly to meet with Dalli near Peppi’s Kiosk, specifying a price “with six zeros” for the directive to be changed. When informed of this, Gabrielsson had told Kimberly to cease communicating with Zammit and that Swedish Match was refusing to pay for the lifting of the ban. “That was the end of that chapter,” Rizzo said.

Zammit was simultaneously communicating with Hammergren, informing him that he had something interesting to talk about, Rizzo explained.

Rizzo said that in a phone call, Zammit had informed Delfosse that this meeting with Dalli “would only be possible for a price.” Delfosse asked him to be clearer, but he said he would get back to her and hung up.

A frenzy of phone calls followed, before Zammit called Delfosse back saying “my boss is ready to speak to your CEO anywhere in the world…but there is an initial price of €10,000,000 to remove the snus ban.”

Delfosse had recorded this phone call, Rizzo said, where Zammit made repeated references to Dalli, also referring to him as his “boss” or “John” or “Commissioner.” 

The issue was reported to the Secretary General of the Commission as a bribery attempt and the case was referred to OLAF, who began an investigation.

“When we spoke to Mr. John Dalli, he told us that he was not aware of any OLAF investigation into him. But Zammit had admitted to us that Dalli had, in fact, been aware,” explained Rizzo.

Rizzo said, Dalli had admitted to the Maltese police to having been told about so on 6 July that year, after giving him information. “When you look at the chronology, the meeting and the phone calls, their content, I find myself asking whether Dalli had really only found out about the investigation on the 6th?”

After concluding his testimony, Rizzo was cross-examined by defence lawyer Steven Tonna Lowell.

The lawyer asked about interceptions Rizzo had mentioned in his testament. Rizzo clarified that he was referring to call logs.

Asked by Tonna Lowell whether Silvio Zammit had ever implicated Dalli in connection with the money, Rizzo replied that “half the statement was him [Rizzo] trying to get Zammit to realise the trouble he would cause if the allegations turned out to be false, but Zammit had never backtracked.”

AG lawyers Antoine Agius Bonnici and Anthony Vella are prosecuting. Lawyers Stefano Filletti and Stephen Tonna Lowell are Dalli’s defence counsel.