The EU anti-fraud report that brought down former European Commissioner John Dalli will finally see the light of day next week after a magistrate ordered that it be presented as evidence in the face of strong objections.
Despite repeated calls from influential MEPs in the European Parliament and from Mr Dalli himself for it to be published, the European anti-fraud office, OLAF, has consistently refused to do so.
The head of the agency, Giovanni Kessler, said the decision was the Maltese Government’s. The Prime Minister then said it was up to Attorney General Peter Grech who, however, has kept it under wraps pending police investigations.
Opposition to the report being presented in court has also come from the prosecution in the case against 48-year-old businessman Silvio Zammit, who is pleading not guilty to bribery and trading in influence.
Mr Zammit is so far the only person to have been charged over the matter.
Mr Kessler has claimed there was “unambiguous circumstantial evidence” that Mr Dalli knew Mr Zammit had asked a Swedish tobacco firm for money to influence legislation under the former Commissioner’s portfolio.
Very few details of OLAF’s investigation have been made public and those that did came from Mr Kessler during a press conference in Brussels the day after Mr Dalli’s resignation at the end of October.
In a sitting in the Zammit case yesterday, Magistrate Anthony Vella ordered that the report be presented as evidence next week.
The magistrate said there was no reason for it to be kept out of the case. The report had been in possession of the Attorney General and the Police Commissioner for more than three months: “If any action had to be taken, there was time enough,” he remarked.
The magisterial order came after Mr Zammit’s defence lawyers, Kriss Busietta and Edward Gatt, argued that it was preposterous for the report – such an intrinsic part of the case against their client – to be kept out of the proceedings.
It was making their job very difficult and impeded their ability to carry out a thorough cross examination of witnesses, Dr Gatt said.
“Where is the level playing field? Every witness that comes, opens up a Pandora’s Box,” he exclaimed.
Since the start of the case, the prosecution has always objected strongly to the report being presented. Yesterday, Police Inspector Angelo Gafà and lawyer Phillip Galea Farrugia, from the Attorney General’s Office, said it would not be correct to present it as there was an ongoing police investigation.
All documents pertaining to the case against Mr Zammit had been presented, they said.
Inspector Gafà said the prosecution was not in any way preventing the defence from questioning OLAF investigators, who were meant to testify. He said they would be presenting the report when they are called to testify.
Dr Gatt replied that documents were presented even in a simple traffic sitting. The report, he insisted, was the subject of an international press conference and it was ludicrous that they could not have access to it in Malta to defend someone in a court of law.