Gayle Kimberley told me to ask for money – Silvio Zammit

The only man facing charges over the Dalligate scandal, Silvio Zammit, has claimed he was a middleman in the affair acting on the “instructions” of Gayle Kimberley, the freelance legal adviser to the Swedish tobacco company that first reported the case. Mr Zammit’s lawyers, Edward Gatt and Kris Busietta, claimed, in a judicial protest filed in court that Dr Kimberley had directed their client to ask for money for his “lobbying services” and that this money was going to be split between Mr Zammit and Dr Kimberley “on the lawyer’s instructions”. The statement challenges the position of Maltese police, who have so far been treating Dr Kimberley exclusively as a witness, despite the recommendation in the original investigation by the EU Anti-Fraud Agency (OLAF) that she was involved in the matter and that charges of trading in influence should also be issued against her. Mr Zammit, 48, has faced charges over allegedly asking representatives from the tobacco firm Swedish Match for a bribe of €60 million to help lift a ban on snus – a form of orally-consumed tobacco which is banned under current EU rules. OLAF’s investigation report did not make recommendations for criminal charges to...