Former police commissioner Peter Paul Zammit believes his predecessor may not have been fully convinced of John Dalli’s alleged involvement in the snus affair.
Ex-police chief John Rizzo told Parliament on Thursday his investigating team concluded there was sufficient evidence to prove the former European Commissioner knew what was going on.
However, Mr Rizzo also said he wanted to interrogate Mr Dalli, who was abroad with a medical certificate, before charging him in court.
“To me this suggests that Mr Rizzo was not convinced… I think there was prejudgment without having all the facts at hand and it seems he [Mr Rizzo] still had a nagging doubt,” Mr Zammit said when contacted yesterday.
Three months after becoming police commissioner last year, Mr Zammit went on record saying there was no criminal case against Mr Dalli.
Mr Zammit said it did not make sense to re-interrogate Mr Dalli if a decision had been taken to charge him.
“There is no need to interrogate someone again if you have decided on a plan of action. I was taught to trawl through evidence and, once a decision is taken, to move ahead and implement it.”
In Parliament Mr Rizzo, who was the lead investigator on the Dalli case, said his successor had never discussed the matter with him.
Mr Zammit yesterday defended his decision to review the case without going to Mr Rizzo.
“It did not make sense to go back to the investigator who worked on the case because it would have prejudiced my assessment. I wanted to look at all the evidence with fresh eyes, with a blank mind,” Mr Zammit said.
An investigation carried out by OLAF, the EU anti-fraud agency, in 2012 found there was circumstantial evidence showing Mr Dalli knew of bribe requests related to EU tobacco laws.
It did not make sense to go back to the investigator who worked on the case because it would have prejudiced my assessment
Mr Dalli has denied any wrongdoing, insisting he knew nothing of the alleged bribe request.
Restaurateur and former canvasser for Mr Dalli, Silvio Zammit, is facing criminal charges on allegations that he asked for €60 million from a Swedish tobacco company to change EU laws that banned snus.
Snus is an oral form of tobacco that can only be sold in Sweden and is banned in the rest of the EU.
At the time of the case, Mr Dalli was European Health Commissioner responsible for changing the tobacco directive.
Mr Dalli was forced to resign his post as commissioner but the matter is at the heart of a legal dispute in front of the European Court of Justice, with the former EU official claiming unfair dismissal since he never resigned.