Businessman Silvio Zammit who is standing accused in connection with the Dalligate scandal is claiming that the Attorney General's "pointless" wait for a foreign witness who is refusing to testify is stalling proceedings.

Silvio Zammit

Such a delay is breaching his fundamental right for a fair hearing. 

The request was filed in an application submitted by Mr Zammit's lawyers who are asking the court presiding his case to seek the advice of the Constitutional Court on the matter. Mr Zammit is complaining that the case, which has been going on for four years, has been repeatedly deferred in the wake of the fact that a principal witness of the prosecution, tobacco lobbyist Inge Delfosse, declared that she did not wanted to testify so as not to incriminate herself. 

Mr Zammit is facing criminal proceedings before a Maltese court on charges of bribery and trading in influence when John Dalli was EU Health Commissioner. Mr Dalli was forced to resign by then European Commission president José Manuel Barroso in October 2012, following an investigation by the EU’s anti-fraud agency (OLAF). 

In his application, the businessman laments that proceedings cannot forge ahead for the simple reason that the prosecution is arguing it has not presented all of its evidence yet. This is being done to the detriment of Mr Zammit as the AG's futile wait for this witness is breaching the defendant's right for a fair trial and lengthening proceedings unjustifiably, the application says.

The case hinges on a telephone conversation, in which Mr Zammit is allegedly heard asking Ms Delfosse for €10 million to set up a meeting with his “boss” over the possibility of lifting an EU ban on snus, a form of smokeless tobacco.

The defendant, however, is mounting a legal challenge before a Belgian court on the legality of this recording, on the strength of a declaration by a Belgian privacy watchdog which said that Mr Zammit could have a case.

Lawyers Edward Gatt and Kris Busietta signed the application.