“The love of exercising power has been found to be so universal, that no class of men who have possessed authority have been able to avoid abusing it”.
“The suppression of truth is the enemy of knowledge” Edmund Burke
The purpose of this site is to give a small insight into the political corruption that has existed in Malta for many years. It should also be of interest to law scholars and those who are interested in the administration of justice and public office accountability.
This new evidence is being published now because it was not available until 3rd March 2011. The official court stamp on the transcripts of Expert Witnesses Ivan Formosa and Christopher Farrugia confirm this.
The evidence published on this site confirms beyond a reasonable doubt that EU Commissioner John Dalli colluded with the police, judiciary and others to frame the defendant. John Dalli had the motive finances and manpower to commit this crime. Only a person with a warped and twisted mind like disgraced former EU Commissioner John Dalli would frame a person in this way.
The worse thing that can happen to an innocent person is to be falsely and maliciously accused of a crime by a powerful politician like EU Commissioner John Dalli. More serious still is when the victim knows that the accuser is the guilty party. It is not just the accusations that make it bad for the victim. What makes it even more despicable is that those who are close to the victim suffer just as much.
Malta is a small country with approximately 420, 000 citizens where everybody knows everyone else false and malicious public accusations humiliate and marginalize the victim and his family. It also makes it difficult for the victim to find employment. In such a situation the victim is seen as guilty even when found innocent by the court.
This is an account of abuse of power, vindictiveness, hypocrisy, intimidation, perjury, fraud, frame-ups, waste of public resources and funds including corrupt practices in the police force and the law courts. It shows to what extent a powerful politician like John Dalli would be prepared to go to cover up his involvement in what had become to be known in Malta as “The Daewoo Scandal” or “The Scandal of the Millennium”. However, this was not the only scandal that John Dalli was linked to up to that point in time. Despite the fact that he was connected to some serious political scandals he was never investigated or held accountable for any of them.
On his appointment as EU Commissioner, Heike Moldenhauer from Friends of the Earth labelled EU Commissioner John Dalli “A commissioner who can’t be trusted”. He must have done his homework very well.
Politicians like John Dalli are addressed as“Honourable”. There is nothing honourable about being an unaccountable and arrogant politician such as EU Commissioner John Dalli. Neither do honourable people go around making false and malicious accusations or abusing the power entrusted to them by the electorate as John Dalli did on many occasions.
EU Commissioner John Dalli has the hypocrisy and audacity to go on TV and other news media whinging and bleating about the suffering he endured when he was falsely accused. Of course, EU Commissioner John Dalli did not go through the bad experience that Ellul-Grech was forced to go through because of the malicious and false accusations that Dalli brought against him. Commissioner John Dalli chooses to forget about this and the political corruption he has been connected to over the years.
When John Dalli was Parliamentary Secretary for Industry between 1987 and 1988 he was responsible for the AMS scandal. Between 1992 and 1996 he was connected to the Mater Dei Hospital concrete tender scandal. This was awarded to his brother (Bastjan Dalli) despite the fact that other experienced concrete manufacturers submitted more competitive tenders. There was also the auditing contract that was awarded to the same practice that audited the accounts for Universal Commerce Agency/Daewoo (Malta) Ltd.
On the 26th October 1996: general elections returned the Malta Labour Party in government. Dr Eddie Fenech Adami had called an early general election. John Dalli had been Finance Minister at the time. The banks were part of his portfolio during that administration. The election was called early due to the serious financial situation the country’s finances were in. When Dr Eddie Fenech Adami was informed of it he was quoted as saying in an interview “When I was informed of the financial situation I nearly had a heart attack”.
Prior to Joe Gaffarena selling his interest in the Daewoo car sale agency to J.M. Scicluna on the 15th September 1997, John Dalli was engaged as a consultant with the company from November 1996 – July 1998. He was also Shadow Finance Minister and consultant for other large businesses. The general public already knew that the business was experiencing difficulties due to a lack of spares and new models.
It was during the period that EU Commissioner John Dalli was a consultant for the company that the biggest known fraud in Maltese history was in progress. After this fraud was reported to the police commissioner and the prime minister, John Dalli proceeded to cover up his involvement by colluding with the police and others to frame Joseph Ellul Grech.
On 17th November 1999 former disgraced EU Commissioner John Dalli brought charges against Joseph Ellul Grech, John Dalli and the Police summoned eighteen (18) prosecution witnesses. Details are explained in the “Witness Court Attendance Analysis” below.
Prior to Joe Gaffarena selling his interest in the Daewoo car sale agency to J.M. Scicluna on the 15th September 1997, John Dalli was engaged as a consultant with the company from November 1996 – July 1998. He was also Shadow Finance Minister and consultant for other large businesses. The general public already knew that the business was experiencing difficulties due to a lack of spares and new models.
It was during the period that EU Commissioner John Dalli was a consultant for the company that the biggest known fraud in Maltese history was in progress. After this fraud was reported to the police commissioner and the prime minister, John Dalli proceeded to cover up his involvement by colluding with the police and others to frame Joseph Ellul Grech.
The purchase of Gaffarena’s interest in the business must have been the strangest and most unethical way of conducting business. There was no realisation of assets or audited accounts available to ascertain the value of the business. In reality, the business never produced or submitted audited accounts to the bank or the authorities as required by law during the years the business was trading. Part of the funds to buy Gaffarena’s interest were raised through loans and overdraft facilities amounting to €37 million through BOV (Bank of Valletta).
For providing his services as “Mr Fix It” John Dalli received a monthly fee, a Daewoo Espero in white chassis no. KLAJF19V1SB59739096 registered in his wife’s name and a Daewoo Cielo chassis no. KLATF19Y1SB598856 registered in his eldest daughter’s name.
Allegedly John Dalli also received a cash backhander of Lm500, 000 (€1.2 million) (evidence to support this is available).
Soon after this J.M. Scicluna took full control of the company. The company started to default in paying its bankers (BOV) hire purchase payments made by the debtors to the company. Many clients would make their HP payments in cash to the company and the funds withheld from the bank. The media had alleged that during this period sacks full of cash were withdrawn from the bank as well and were leaving the company’s offices. Gaffarena had to be paid.
EU Commissioner John Dalli's business relationship with Joe Gaffarena and Joseph Mary Scicluna goes back to 1979. Ellul-Grech had been in the employ of the three of them. John Dalli’s brother Bastjan was a partner in the business with Gaffarena and Scicluna between 1992 and 1994. He left and bought Mixer Ltd from Gaffarena.
July 1998 John Dalli terminates his consultancy and starts to campaign for the general election.
On 5th September 1998: general elections were held very early and won by the Nationalist Party with a one-seat majority. John Dalli was appointed Finance Minister but the banks were not part of his portfolio in this administration. However, Ellul-Grech and other UCA employees kept Dalli informed of the corrupt practices that were taking place in the company.
After winning the general election the party secretary Joe Saliba in an address to the party’s general conference to celebrate the electoral win stated "we are a confident political party so much so that in eighteen (18) months we succeeded in bringing down the administration of the Malta Labour Party".
In January 1999: Joseph Ellul-Grech had resigned his position as an accountant with Universal Commerce Agency/Daewoo Malta Ltd., having been in the employ of Joe Gaffarena and J.M. Scicluna since August 1995. He had resigned because of the irregularities and corrupt practices that were taking place there. Prior to his resignation the group Financial Controller Albert Briffa had resigned for the same reasons and was offered employment in a ministry.
After he resigned Ellul-Grech continued to be constantly harassed by many Daewoo clients who had been defrauded of their HP payments. He finally reported the gross financial irregularities at Daewoo to the Police Commissioner (George Grech) and the Prime Minister (+Dr. Eddie Fenech Adami) on the 4th June 1999.
14th April 1999: John Dalli sold the Mid Med Bank the largest bank on the Maltese Islands to HSBC. Mid Med Bank was sold for a pittance and without authority to the same bank that had taken over the offshore bank where EU Commissioner John Dalli had a substantial amount of funds deposited at one time.
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| Last page of PC 956 confirming his report was ready on the 31st October 2001 |
Fingerprint expert PC956 Andrew Caruana and his department always claimed that there were thousands of letters to be examined to purposely prolong the proceedings. This breached the defendant's HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS TO A FAIR TRIAL.
In his report, Ivan Formosa accounts for a total of 1, 671 letters. Mr Formosa submitted his report to the court on the 1st February 2001. On the 16th March 2000 an article published in the Nazzjon newspaper claimed that 20, 000 letters were in police possession. The next day another article was published confirming that the paper was reliably informed of this and accused the Labour Party of sending the anonymous letters. In his witness, Dalli had suggested that “a large political organisation” could have been involved.
The evidence in Ivan Formosa's report points to disgraced Former EU Commissioner John Dalli. Dalli COLLUDED with the police and others to frame Joseph Ellul Grech to cover up HIS involvement in THE Daewoo scandal. John Dalli had the motive and resources to put into action such a despicable and deceitful criminal act.
After searching the defendant's home and confiscating his computer equipment, it should have been obvious to the police that he did not have the
necessary equipment to print such a large volume of photostats. For anyone to
conduct such an exercise and mail 20, 000 letters each letter containing three
A4 sheets of paper, they needed 60, 000 sheets of paper. They would have also
needed 20, 000 envelopes and stamps.
The prosecution's evidence confirmed the names and addresses on the envelopes were handwritten and there were a number of different handwritings. The postage stamps were manually applied to the envelopes, and the contents had to be folded and sealed. This confirms that it was impossible for the defendant to commit this crime.
The prosecution's evidence confirmed the names and addresses on the envelopes were handwritten and there were a number of different handwritings. The postage stamps were manually applied to the envelopes, and the contents had to be folded and sealed. This confirms that it was impossible for the defendant to commit this crime.
The defendant had started legal proceedings against the Attorney General and the Police Commissioner because it was suspected that the investigation was being purposely delayed. This raises serious questions and confirms that PC956 Andrew Caruana colluded with others to purposely delay the proceedings. That implicates him seriously in the frame-up. The dates on the court transcripts are very damming.
It took almost (4) four years for the police to conclude their investigations against Joseph Ellul Grech. During this period a maximum of (30) thirty hours of court time was used (see above court attendance analysis). The defendant was summoned approximately (23) twenty-three times, breaching the defendant's HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS. THAT IS VERY NASTY.