AG hands Dalli report to the police

Malta’s Attorney General has submitted the EU’s anti-fraud agency report to the police. Sources close to the AG office told The Times he had finalised his recommendations on the investigation by the anti-fraud agency, OLAF, and the report has now been passed on to the police. “The ball is in the police’s court as they will now have to examine the AG’s recommendations and conduct their own investigations before deciding whether to take further action,” the sources said. The EU’s anti-fraud office’s investigation concluded that the Maltese businessman had approached a Swedish tobacco producer, using his contact with Mr Dalli, and sought to gain financial advantage in exchange for influence on a possible legislative proposal on snus – a tobacco product which is banned in all EU countries except Sweden. The Commissioner, according to the OLAF inquiry, “was aware of events”, though Mr Dalli has strongly denied this claim. It is not yet known whether the police will question Mr Dalli, businessman Silvio Zammit (who has since resigned as Sliema deputy mayor), as well as other people included in the OLAF report. Commission president José Manuel Barroso yesterday responded to...