‘It’s God’ – how Dalli aide brushed off question about his ‘boss’

John Dalli’s former aide Silvio Zammit told OLAF investigators that his boss was “God” when questioned about a recorded phone call in which he had requested a €10 million payment to fix a meeting between “his boss” and the snus lobby, a court was told.

Giovanni Kessler, the former director general of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), described Zammit’s replies as “surreal” when testifying on Wednesday in a case against former EU Commissioner John Dalli.

Dalli is pleading not guilty to trading in influence and attempted bribery concerning a €60 million bribe involving his former aide.

That sum was allegedly solicited by Zammit (who has since passed away) to help lift an EU-wide ban on snus, the smokeless tobacco that is only marketed in Sweden.

An earlier sitting had heard that British American Tobacco (BAT) Malta had received a request from its overseas head office to set up contact with Dalli on behalf of the European Smokeless Tobacco lobby, ESTOC.

Kessler explained that an investigation had kicked off following a letter and accompanying report about the alleged bribery sent by Swedish Match to the president of the European Commission Manuel Barroso.

Those documents were...