Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/653685
5 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 16 MARCH 2016 News Dalligate suspect files Belgian criminal complaint Silvio Zammit, who stands charged with soliciting bribes, wants snus lobbyist investigated over illegal phone recording MAT THEW AGIUS Silvio Zammit has renewed his call for a police investiga- tion into illegal phone-tapping by the secretary-general of the European Smokeless Tobacco Council, by filing a criminal complaint on the matter with the Belgian police. Zammit stands accused in a Maltese court of law of having solicited bribes of €50 million and €10 million from Swedish Match and ESTOC, respec- tively, by creating the impres- sion that John Dalli, the then EU commissioner for health, could reverse the EU's ban on snus, the smokeless tobacco that Swedish Match produces. Last Sunday, law yer Edward Gatt, who is acting as defence counsel to Silvio Zammit, joined his client in Belgium and accompanied Zammit as he filed a formal request that Belgian district police launch an investigation into phone tapping and prosecute ESTOC secretary-general Inge Del- fosse. The development comes af- ter the partial lifting of OLAF chief Giovanni Kessler's im- munity – partial as it only lift- ed the immunity with respect to the phone-tapping charge. Zammit is asking for her to be interviewed about the way she obtained a re- corded phone call with him, as she had been ordered to do so by Kes- sler, who had previously enjoyed immunity from prosecution. This is the same issue about which OLAF had re- moved Kessler's immunity. In the complaint, Zam- mit (right) explains how on 29 March 2012 at 3:18pm, he had spoken to Delfosse several times on the phone. When he was investigated by OLAF – which was investigat- ing the allegation of bribery filed by Swedish Match with the European Commission's secretary-general – he was informed that Delfosse had re- corded this phone-call, an act which Zammit says is illegal in Belgium. "I insist that she is inter- viewed about the way she ob- tained my phone call... I have tried to contact several ser- vices and the federal police of Belgium have notified me that I am to go to a police station of my choosing to make a com- plaint." Delfosse is the last witness in the Maltese case against Zam- mit, and has put off attending several times as the evidence may incriminate her. The Belgian public pros- ecutor is said to be con- cerned about Kessler's handling of witnesses and the taping of a telephone conversation with Zam- mit. Dalli was forced to re- sign from his post as EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy four years ago, after a probe led by Kessler had linked him to a to- bacco lobbyist at a time when the EU was clamping down on smoking and the tobacco in- dustry. The OLAF report, which MaltaToday published in April 2013, had claimed that Zam- mit approached tobacco pro- ducer Swedish Match, propos- ing he make use of its contacts with John Dalli to overturn an EU ban on snus. The OLAF report had con- cluded that Dalli, although not involved, had been aware of what was going on. However, that report had come under fire from several MEPs who claimed it was " biased." Dalli has categorically denied any wrong-doing and filed a complaint in a Belgian court that led to the demand that Kessler's immunity be lifted. A separate defamation case has been instituted by Dalli against Swedish Match. Dalli has also filed proceedings be- fore the European Court of Justice against the Commis- sion, asking that the decision by former EC President Jose Manuel Barroso to force Dalli 's resignation, be declared null. His request was turned down, but now awaits an appeals de- cision.