The Opposition wants the head of the EU’s anti-fraud agency, Giovanni Kessler, to testify before a parliamentary committee hearing a breach of privilege complaint against PN leader Simon Busuttil.

Speaker Anġlu Farrugia ruled in October that, prima facie, Dr Busuttil committed a breach of privilege when he accused Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of political interference in a police investigation.

The probe in question was in connection with bribery allegations that had forced John Dalli’s resignation as European Commissioner in 2012.

Dr Busuttil had questioned the police’s decision to drop the case against Mr Dalli, laying emphasis on the fact that this had occurred immediately after the change of government and the appoint-ment of Peter Paul Zammit as Police Commissioner.

The Prime Minister denied he had interfered and asked the Speaker for a ruling after Dr Busuttil refused to retract his claims.

Immediately after the Speaker’s ruling, Nationalist MPs stormed out of Parliament with Dr Busuttil accusing the government of “trying to gag the Opposition” while describing his claims as “a political judgement”.

As stipulated by the Standing Orders of the House, the complaint was then referred to the Privileges Committee.

In a letter to the Speaker, Opposition MP Chris Said, standing in for Dr Busuttil who was not allowed to sit on the committee since he was directly involved in the case, said the first witness would be Dr Kessler.

No decision has been taken yet when the committee will be meeting to hear witnesses.