John Dalli has accused journalists of being corrupt, moments after walking out of court over an alleged €60 million bribe solicited by a political aide of his.

Facing questions about his once-secret company Westmead Overseas, Dalli lashed out by saying the media is “corrupt and on the take”.

Times of Malta revealed last month how Dalli hid Westmead from his asset declarations to parliament. 

Visibly irritated by the questions, Dalli squared off against one journalist, accusing him of being “deaf”.

Dalli denied breaching the MPs’ code of ethics but refused to say what he planned on using Westmead for, or why he hid his ownership in the company. 

The Pandora Papers, a massive offshore data leak, uncovered how the former minister and European commissioner used nominee services provided by the Panama law firm Alcogal to hide his ownership of the BVI company Westmead Overseas Limited.  

This means that instead of opting to openly appear in any public records as Westmead’s owner, Dalli instead chose to pay Alcogal to disguise his ownership via a nominee company.  

He did, however, show up on Westmead's register of directors together with two nominees from Alcogal.

Owning an offshore company is not in itself illegal, although with Dalli’s checkered history, the steps taken to conceal his ownership of Westmead and his failure to declare the company in his asset filings raise questions about its intended use. 

No information about the purpose of the company was found in the leak. Dalli insists the company was “inactive”.