Disclosure of the EU anti-fraud agency (Olaf) report on former Commissioner John Dalli could lead to tampering with evidence, prosecutors have argued in a court application.

The delay was not caused by procrastination on the police’s part but by the alleged state of John Dalli’s health

“Should the report be presented at this stage, the investigation would be affected significantly and there would be a growing risk that the evidence could be tampered with and the proceedings prejudiced.

“This is particularly so because the report names a number of people, which the police have spoken to or are planning to speak to in connection with the investigation,” prosecutors have argued.

This plea was made in a court application filed in the past days in the name of the Police Commissioner and the Attorney General in connection with the case of Mr Dalli’s former canvasser, Silvio Zammit.

Mr Zammit stands charged with soliciting a €60 million bribe to influence tobacco legislation under the portfolio of former European Commissioner.

The prosecution was expected to present the document in court on Thursday, after having been ordered by presiding Magistrate Anthony Vella.

However, the hearing was postponed as the same investigators, Assistant Commissioner Michael Cassar and Inspector Angelo Gafa, had to dedicate their urgent attention to another police issue. The Zammit case has now been deferred to January 31 at the prosecution’s request but Magistrate Vella will now have to consider the application asking for the report not to be disclosed for the time being.

In the application, prosecutors pointed out that the magistrate had previously upheld their arguments that disclosing the document could be prejudicial to ongoing investigations. But he then changed his mind on the basis that more than three months had passed since Mr Zammit was first arraigned.

However, the prosecution argued that the delay was beyond its control.

“The delay… was not caused by procrastination on the police’s part but by the alleged state of health of the former European Commissioner John Dalli,” the prosecution argues in the application.

Mr Dalli was interrogated a few days after the police received a copy of the Olaf investigation report. However, the application points out, Mr Dalli then travelled to Brussels where, “according to medical certificates presented to the police, he seems to be receiving medical treatment”.

“In the circumstances, the Police Commissioner felt that from a humanitarian point of view, it did not make sense for the police to insist on him returning to Malta to face questioning or even issue a European Arrest Warrant in his regard, seeing there are medical certificates that do not justify this sort of action, at least for the time being,” the application states.

The Sunday Times understands that police have been provided with medical certificates saying Mr Dalli will not be able to travel or face a stressful situation, at least until the end of next month.

On the legal front, prosecutors argued that publishing the report was “legally unsustainable” as the magistrate technically did not have the power to order its publication, seeing as the intention was to present the document anyway.

The magistrate had ordered the prosecution to present the report on the strength of the argument made by Mr Zammit’s defence lawyers, who insisted their lack of access to the full report was prejudicial to their ability to defend their client and cross-examine witnesses properly. On this point, the prosecution argued that whenever it referred to evidence contained in the Olaf report, it always presented the relevant copies.

So far only Mr Zammit has been arraigned (with trading in influence and bribery) in connection with the Olaf probe, over his alleged request for money from tobacco company Swedish Match, in return for lifting an EU-wide ban on snus – a smokeless form of tobacco that can only be sold in Sweden under current EU rules.

There have been repeated calls for the publication of the Olaf report, ever since some of its conclusions were made public by the European Commission forcing Mr Dalli’s resignation in October.

mmicallef@timesofmalta.com

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