OLAF regrets that 'partial evidence' was provided to the media

A Maltese entrepreneur who had organised meetings between former EU Commissioner John Dalli and representatives and lobbyists of snus producers repeatedly requested a considerable sum of money from the industry in exchange for the adoption of a proposal for the lifting of the ban on snus, OLAF, the EU anti-fraud office said today. It said in a statement that the business had traded on the name of the Commissioner. The businessman’s request, OLAF said, was declined by the industry and no payment or financial transactions took place. OLAF said it was making its statements to clarify comments in recent media reports regarding its investigation into alleged bribe requests to obtain the lifting of the EU ban on snus. The claims were made in a Swedish newspaper this morning. Aftonbladet claimed that Snus manufacturer Swedish Match was asked for €60 million by Silvio Zammit to influence a decision by Mr Dalli. In its statement, OLAF regretted that partial evidence of the case had been provided to the press by interested parties and said it would not comment on details of the investigation as the matter was now under consideration by the judicial authorities. It reiterated that its...