Police Commissioner in Brussels visit over John Dalli investigation

The investigation into the John Dalli case returned to Brussels last week where Maltese police went over key elements of the probe with investigators at the EU anti-fraud agency, OLAF, sources have told The Sunday Times. Police Commissioner John Rizzo was accompanied by the head of the Economic Crimes Unit Michael Cassar and Inspector Angelo Gafa during a brief visit to Brussels, where they discussed the OLAF probe with the agency’s investigators. Sources said interrogations remain ongoing almost two weeks after Mr Dalli himself was called in at police headquarters in Floriana and questioned extensively during a 34-hour stay. Mr Dalli was forced to resign as European Health Commissioner in October when an OLAF investigation concluded there was “unambiguous circumstantial evidence” showing he knew that his former canvasser Silvio Zammit requested a large sum money from a Swedish tobacco company to lift an EU ban on snus – a smokeless form of tobacco which can only be sold in Sweden. The agency’s director general, Giovanni Kessler, had said there was no conclusive evidence showing Mr Dalli was directly involved but the former Commissioner was forced to resign by European Commission...