John Dalli accuses Pana committee MEPs of forming a lynch mob

John Dalli has accused MEPs of lacking the decency to meet and discuss issues that concerned him before compiling a report on the rule of law in Malta.

The former European Commissioner has written to the European Parliament’s LIBE-PANA committee, requesting a meeting so that he would be able to explain himself on certain matters.

And Dalli did not mince his words, accusing the MEPs who visited Malta over two days last November of forming a lynch mob.

“I was denied the basic right to be heard when the report suggests that certain issues concerning myself ‘require explanation’… Instead of following the rule of law, they turned themselves into a lynching mob in the style of the wild west,” Dalli wrote.

Dalli is insisting that the report submitted to the European Parliament contained a number of “negative and false comments” about him and his family. He accused the report writer of being misinformed and misdirected.

“It is most unethical that when I got involved in this way, the team that was in Malta did not have the decency to call me to discuss the relevant issues and this when the Pana committee decided to comment about me publicly in its report and in the debate it had on 25 January,” Dalli said. 

The rule of law report mentioned Dalli several times, linking him to Pilatus Bank and the mysterious Dubai company 17 Black. The report also flagged Dalli’s removal from the European Commission in 2012 and the Maltese police’s failure to prosecute him over bribery allegations.

Read also: Do this, do that… but will Malta take heed of MEPs’ rule of law mission report?

MEPs had asked an official from the Financial Intelligence and Analysis Unit whether Dalli had an account with Pilatus, to which he replied that as a Maltese citizen the former politician could have had one.

Dalli later confirmed with Lovin Malta that he had an account at the bank but closed it because it was inactive.

In his letter to the Pana committee, which Dalli copied to several other people, including European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Dalli says the rule of law should apply to every person.

“I am insisting for a meeting where I can give all information that they think they need,” Dalli said, making it clear that his action was linked solely to the issues concerning him and his family.

Dalli also asked for a copy of the report that MEPs were given last year, which was written on behalf of the Caruana Galizia family. The report, seen by MaltaToday, had a whole annex about Dalli and controversies he was involved in.