John Dalli's medical certificate extended again

A medical certificate that former European Commissioner John Dalli is unable to return to Malta due to ill health has been extended, further delaying police investigations into alleged bribery and trading in influence during the drafting of the EU’s tobacco directive. Investigators were planning to question him in early January before arraigning him, but plans were disrupted when he started treatment in a Brussels hospital. This is the second extension of his medical certificate – up to the end of March. OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud agency, had claimed that there was unambiguous circumstantial evidence that he knew that his name was being used in trading in influence and a bribe request of some €60m by his former canvasser Silvio Zammit. Both Mr Dalli and Mr Zammit deny the claims. Full story in The Sunday Times.