“Dalligate”

‘We have a ‘bomb’ — Green MEPs’

Published on 8 May 2013

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At a press conference in Valletta on May 7, MEPs José Bové and Bart Staes presented a leaked report by the supervisory committee of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) on the investigation of former European Health Commissioner, John Dalli. It was on the basis of the investigation that Commission President José Manuel Barroso obliged Dalli to resign last October. Published on May 7, by news website Malta Today, the report questions some of the methods used by OLAF in the course of its enquiries.

Quoting part of a statement by Bové and Staes, the newspaper says —

EC President Jose Manuel Barroso should shoulder responsibility [for the scandal] because “he ruined Malta’s image along with Mr Dalli’s reputation”.

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The two MEPs also criticised the Commission President for his failure —

… to see that the OLAF supervisory committee was informed of the case immediately and […] [the fact that he] allowed the report to be handed to the relevant authorities without adopting the five-day time-frame rule which enables the supervisory committee to verify whether the procedures were followed correctly in terms of the investigation.

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