Lawyers defending Silvio Zammit, the man at the centre of Dalligate, yesterday said they would ask the police to investigate the head of the EU’s anti-fraud agency the minute he set foot on the island.

Edward Gatt and Kris Busietta expressed anger at the fact that the court case against Mr Zammit had to be put off on three occasions because foreign witnesses, including OLAF head Giovanni Kessler, had failed to come over.

Mr Zammit is pleading not guilty to bribery and trading in influence for allegedly asking tobacco firm Swedish Match for €60 million in return for helping to lift a ban on snus, a smokeless tobacco, through his connections with former European health commissioner John Dalli.

Ironically, the hearing was held the day after Dr Kessler wrote to Speaker Anġlu Farrugia saying a source had told him Mr Dalli wanted to let him know that if he travelled to Malta he might be arrested. In a letter also to the Speaker, Mr Dalli denied having sent such a message and said he wanted to confront Dr Kessler and, therefore, would not have warned him not to go.

Dr Gatt complained to Magistrate Anthony Vella that while everyone was exchanging letters, his client was undergoing criminal proceedings.

He said Dr Kessler and other witnesses in the case knew that they had committed illegalities and, therefore, as soon as they set foot in Malta a request for them to be investigated would be made.

The case continues on Thursday.