John Dalli a Maltese politician has been nominated EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy. He is a politician of great vision, a compulsive liar with a history of incompetence that no other commissioner in the EU has been able to gain in his or her years in politics. HE WILL BRING THE COMMISSION INTO DISREPUTE.
There is no doubt that there is nothing like jumping from one gravy train to another.
Being given such a portfolio is staggering considering that Malta’s health service and policy are inferior to that of many EU countries. Malta must be one of the few countries where none of the doctors keep health records of their patients. Not keeping patients records applies to private and National Health Service clinics. Patient records are only kept in NHS hospitals and often when needed by doctors to refer to, these are discovered to be lost.
For many years patients have had to wait for an unreasonable time to be treated in Malta’s N.H.S. hospitals. Many have been forced into private treatment and got into debt. Worse still, waiting lists for treatment increased prior to and while John Dalli had the responsibility of the N.H.S.
In the past Mr. Dalli had stated in public many times “ this attitude of people expecting to have free National Health Service has to be stopped. Anyone receiving a service has to pay for it”. Due to this many citizens are forced into going to the private sector where they not only have to pay consultation and prescription fees, they also have to pay a charge for using the seats provided by the pharmacy in their waiting rooms where many doctors practice their profession.
In the Times of Malta Mr. Dalli has been quoted as saying. "I will seek to secure an increase in Healthy Life Years - the number of years which citizens can, on average, expect to live in good health. My emphasis would also be firmly on measures to prevent disease, as well as make affordable, safe and efficacious medicines available to patients across the EU”.
In fact, in many cases patients receiving treatment in NHS hospitals in Malta will find that the hospital does not have the medication prescribed for them in stock and their relatives have to purchase it from private pharmacies whether they can afford it or not. There is no free medication for children under the age of 16 years. Doctor’s home visits have to be paid for even though this was promised to be free by Dalli’s political party. People on low incomes also have to pay for their dental and eye treatment.
John Dalli’s noble vision regarding health care can be traced back to 1992 – 1996 when he was appointed Minister of Finance. During that period the Mater Dei Hospital project was in full swing. This project has been shrouded in political and financial scandals and proven incompetence. This six hundred and fifty bed hospital took more than 13 years to build at a cost of 250 million Maltese Liri (€575 million)(Mater Dei Hospital Scandals). (Comparatively, in 1566 the Knights of St. John having inferior and primitive tools started to build the impressive fortifications of the city of Valletta and many other buildings. The Knights finished this much larger building project in 1571). During that period many tenders were issued. One major tender for the supply of concrete was awarded to Bastjan Dalli (Mr. John Dalli’s brother) despite the fact that his was not the most competitive. Bastjan was also awarded many road-resurfacing tenders during this period despite his lack of knowledge in such projects.
It was alleged that many illegal immigrants were employed on these hospital and road surfacing projects. These workers were engaged without having work permits on very low rates of pay with inferior conditions. Despite reports to the police by many citizens and the opposition political party no steps were taken and no one was held accountable.
Soon after this hospital opened, serious structural and medical equipment faults appeared. The costs of repairing these faults had to be paid for by the long-suffering taxpayer.
The auditing tender for the hospital went to an accountant’s practice with strong connections to John Dalli and Universal Commerce Agency Ltd/Daewoo Malta Ltd. Many corruption allegations were made. The Malta Labour Party called for an investigation but again this was ignored and no one was held responsible for the alleged corrupt practices.
Mr. Dalli was also quoted as stating “Other priorities will be in the area of consumer policy to keep the consumer at the heart of the internal market, giving consumers more information to make informed choices and ensure their rights are not compromised”.
This is very wise and noble of Mr. Dalli, however, he seems to have forgotten that he did nothing for the 1, 500 Daewoo (no connection to Daewoo in Korea) clients who had their rights compromised when they were embezzled of €3.5 million. These were hire purchase payments paid to Universal Commerce Agency Ltd/Daewoo Malta Ltd where Mr. Dalli was engaged as consultant (at the time Mr. Dalli was shadow finance minister). The payments were never passed on to the company’s bankers (BOV), as they should have been. This business was also granted millions of Euros in loans using very little collateral.
He was also quoted as stating, “I have learned how to compromise and co-operate with a range of interlocutors”. There is a lot of truth in this because he allegedly colluded with the police and others to frame Joseph Ellul Grech. It is alleged that Dalli organised the sending of 20, 000 anonymous letters claiming to defame him. It must have taken a lot of dialogue and conversations to organise such a serious criminal offence. Each letter consisted of three sheets of A4 paper in a hand written envelope. All the envelopes were in numerous handwriting. The police traced all the stationery back to Parliament. Despite this Ellul Grech was the only person accused and charged with such a serious crime. Joseph Ellul Grech was acquitted from Dalli’s false and malicious accusations. Please visit the following links.
This appointment also gives Mr. Dalli an opportunity to engage his brother Bastjan as consultant to the EU. On several occasions the Maltese authorities brought criminal charges against Bastjan for smuggling drugs and alcohol. However, he was never convicted because the courts deferred the cases indefinitely.
Bastjan Dalli’s expertise was proven on the 21 July 1988 when he was accused of importing a container of approximately 730 boxes of whisky, gin, vodka and rum. Bastjan was accused of avoiding customs duty of Lm24, 000 (55, 900 Euros approximately). He stated that he had made an order for a container of bottled water but when it arrived it turned out to be a container full of spirits. This case came to be known as “The Water Miracle”, referring to Christ’s ability of turning water into wine. The case against his brother is still pending to date (2009).
On that day container number C 0285705 arrived in Malta from Antwerp in Belgium. A Belgian company Olvatra NV shipped this. This container was to be received by Bastjan Dalli and the documentation stated that the container contained bottled mineral water. The director Jean Louis Paesmans of Olvatra NV declared this on the customs documents.
When the container arrived in Malta the police and customs officers discovered the contents were spirits instead of mineral water. So they followed the container to its addressee’s address. Bastjan Dalli was waiting to receive the container at a warehouse in Qormi. When he noticed the police were following the container he instructed the driver to drive on and abandon it elsewhere.
The police seized the container and took it to the customs bonded stores. When they unloaded it, the spirits content was confirmed. During their investigations the police were able to confirm that the documents were false and that its contents were intended for Bastjan Dalli.
At the time there was a lot of media interest. Many people form the town that Dalli lived in complained about the volume of black market goods that were available, such as electronic goods, vans etc. However, no steps were taken.
The case was deferred indefinitely and it remains pending to this day (Dec 2009).
There is no doubt that with his 20 years political track record and expertise in hypocrisy, Mr. John Dalli will be a credit to himself, Malta and the EU in general. Having an unaccountable, incompetent, arrogant liar on board will ensure that EU policy will never be the same again. Allegedly, he represents the sewer of Maltese politics.
