When Olaf chief Giovanni Kessler stood in front of the Brussels press corps on 17 October 2012 – the day after John Dalli lost his job – his message was not an easy one to sell.
He first said there is “no conclusive evidence of the direct participation of the commissioner,” in the attempt to solicit a bribe.
He then added, gripping the edge of the podium with his left hand as he read his statement, that there is “unambiguous and converging circumstantial evidence” that Dalli was aware of the attempted bribe.
Journalists, in a prior press briefing with EU commission spokesperson Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen, had already started giving the EU side a hard time.
“If someone makes an indecent proposal to you, as Swedish Match described it, is that really your fault unless you indicate that you are inclined to be indecent?” one reporter asked.
“What is the fault? Is it that he [Dalli] didn’t actually denounce the attempt to the commission, to Barroso?” another one asked.
Hansen stonewalled.
Nikolaj Nielsen