The police planned to arraign Former European Commissioner John Dalli over the bribery case that ended his career in Brussels but have been holding off due to his ill-health.

Investigators intended calling in Mr Dalli to the Police Depot in Floriana during the first week of January before proceeding with his arraignment but their plans were disrupted when Mr Dalli was taken ill at a Brussels hospital. The former PN Minister has since provided the police with medical certificates saying that he cannot travel.

The news comes after Magistrate Anthony Vella earlier this week ruled that the report by the EU Anti Fraud Agency (Olaf) on which the case is based, should be published. It is expected to be made public at Thursday’s hearing.

The decision came during a hearing in the case against Sliema restaurateur Silvio Zammit, who stands charged with soliciting a €60 million bribe from Swedish Tobacco firm Swedish Match in exchange for the lifting of a ban on snus – a smokeless form of tobacco which, under current EU rules, can only be sold in Sweden.

Throughout these hearings, the police have insisted that their investigations were ongoing.

Only the conclusions of the Olaf report, on which Mr Dalli’s resignation was based, had been made public, raising a series of questions about the process that led to his resignation.

The most damning conclusion in the report said that there was “unambiguous circumstantial evidence” showing that Mr Dalli knew that Mr Zammit had made such a bribe request on his behalf.

Many, including European Parliamentarians, however, have demanded to see the evidence on which this claim is premised.