John Dalli - A Corrupt EU Commissioner - Chapter 1

JOHN DALLI A CORRUPT EU COMMISSIONER

In April of 1999: Joe Gaffarena started legal proceedings against his ex partner J.M. Scicluna to recover LM530, 000 (€1.2 million approximately) allegedly still due to him from the sale of his interest in the business. This drew more attention on the company.

Although Joe Gaffarena had received millions in cash, banker’s drafts and property that was bought by the company and transferred to him in a private agreement as reported in the press, it was still not enough. Evidence confirms that as soon as J.M. Scicluna fulfilled his part of the agreement Gaffarena went out of his way to acquire the Daewoo vehicle sales agency unethically.

READ DOCUMENTS BELOW AND ON HIS WITNESS PAGE TO CONFIRM HIS DETERMINATION TO OBTAIN THE DAEWOO AGENCY.

In May 1999: allegations of fraud at UCA/Daewoo Malta Ltd., had been going round for some time. Earlier that year the Bank of Valletta had written to more than 1, 500 Daewoo clients demanding hire purchase payments that were made to UCA but not passed on to the bank as they should have been.

26th June 1999: the police acknowledged the allegations made against Dr. Chev. Joseph Mary Scicluna about the irregularities that took place at Daewoo. However, no further action was taken although Ellul-Grech had received confirmation of his report from both parties.

During June 1999 newspaper articles about Daewoo were being published regularly. 

By August 1999: further articles were published in the Maltese press covering the situation at the Daewoo car sales. The Labour Party and other institutions demanded an investigation into the Daewoo situation. All the allegations of fraud and insolvency were denied. However, the allegations remained and the media continued to create political pressure and the Daewoo situation continued to make headlines. There were radio and TV programmes and mass meetings asking questions and demanding an investigation.

Early that August 1999 Ellul-Grech had accompanied Joe Gaffarena on a ten-day trip to London. Gaffarena needed to see a heart specialist because of the cardiac problems he suffered from and for other business purposes. Gaffarena, being poorly educated and unable to speak English, needed an interpreter to accompany him and so asked Ellul-Grech. Gaffarena is a cunning and very shrewd businessman with a special way of conducting his business affairs.

Translation for the above article will be published later.

During November 1999 the media’s interest in Daewoo started to gather pace and many newspaper articles were published and mass meetings organised by the Labour Party were held demanding an investigation. These political demands continued for many months in Parliament and on all the news media. They were ignored.

14^th November 1999: an article in the Sunday paper “Kullhadd” was published giving detailed information regarding the irregularities at Daewoo. The many allegations made included political protection at the highest level.

Translation for this article will be published later.