Dalli was appointed Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy in February 2010. In October 2012, the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF) put forward accusations claiming that Dalli had asked snus producer Swedish Match for €60 million, in exchange for trying to change EU tobacco regulations in their favour. A few days later John Dalli was forced to resign by Commission President José Manuel Barroso.
“I am going to really fight for the truth to come out… I will uncover any misdeeds or wrongdoings in the process,” said an adamant Dalli in an interview on the Times of malta in 2012.
The documentary, called Storyville : The Great European Cigarette Mystery, is based on the investigation of Danish journalists Mads Brügger and Mikael Bertelsen. The official synopsis says: “Brügger and Bertelsen uncover the plans for the murder of a former EU commissioner in a thrilling and funny detective film, where one twist follows another”. However what starts off sounding sounds like a pro-Dalli investigation, quickly turns into one that is seemingly uncovering a not-so-well executed farce.
An ex EU Commissioner called Maria?
Amongst other things Dalli shows the investigators e-mails from a “mystery correspondent named Maria” who allegedly claims to have intel about Barroso accepting a bribe from Big Tobacco. However, towards the end of the documentary all evidence seems to point at Dalli, and the investigators conclude that Maria, must be Dalli himself.
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