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 handed over to Kessler along with a letter from the Commission’s secretary general on May 24, 2012  and the following morning they were deposited at the OLAF archives, marking the official start of investigation.

What followed was a series of interviews with persons involved in the affair, particularly officials from ESTOC as well as Zammit, lawyer Gayle Kimberly and Dalli himself.

The €60 million

The €60 million figure was allegedly first mentioned during a meeting at Zammit’s Sliema restaurant, known as Peppi’s Kiosk, between Zammit, Kimberly and Swedish Match official Johan Gabrielsson.

That meeting took place in February 2012.

Gabrielsson reported back to his superiors who, days later, not only decided not to proceed but also informed the secretary of state of the Swedish government that they were the “victim” of such a request.

This meant that when the Swedish Match report landed before Barroso, he was aware that the Swedish government already knew about the alleged bribe.

Later that month, Zammit emailed ESTOC official Inge del Fosse, saying, “I have something very interesting to talk to you about.”

Two days later she called Zammit, whom she had previously met in Stockholm, asking what the “very interesting” issue was, and Zammit allegedly hinted at “a payment.”

On March 8, another email followed in which Zammit offered his services to ESTOC, including lobbying to lift the ban on snus and setting up meetings with “his boss”, Kessler testified.

'Bad rumours in Brussels'

A week later, del Fosse emailed Zammit requesting to meet Dalli so as to address “the bad rumours flying about Brussels”.

At the time, discussions on the new tobacco legislation had reached a decisive stage and the tobacco lobby were “anxious” to lift the ban.

Other calls followed between Zammit and del Fosse, Zammit and Kimberly as well as Zammit and Dalli.

During one such call to del Fosse on March 29, Zammit requested €10 million to arrange “a meeting between my boss and your boss,” and the sum would be paid after the meeting.

That call was recorded by del Fosse who later handed over the recording to OLAF.

When questioned by OLAF, Zammit did not deny the conversation but insisted that he never mentioned the commissioner by name.

Asked who his “boss” was, Zammit replied, “It’s God,” testified Kessler.

He said that when questioning Dalli he had relied on transcripts of that call.

The first time he had actually heard that recorded conversation was while testifying in separate proceedings against Zammit in the Maltese courts, Kessler said.

OLAF’s probe had also focused on the timing of calls in relation to the sequence of events as confirmed by witnesses.

Timing of Zammit-Dalli calls

There were some 23 calls over a seven-month span between Zammit and Dalli, with 18 of those related strictly to the subject of the investigation: call logs indicated that Zammit called the then-commissioner before and within minutes of speaking to del Fosse.

Zammit also called Dalli several times in the presence of ESTOC officials to prove his close connections to the commissioner.

The day after being interviewed by OLAF in July 2012, Zammit called Dalli who was attending an event in Cyprus at the time

That call lasted 14 minutes.

“We don’t know what they said,” Kessler said, adding that “of course they did not speak about football”.

When questioned later by OLAF, Dalli claimed the call was “about a person who had passed away”, adding he did not recall what was discussed in the other calls.

Asked why Kimberly was questioned in Portugal and not in Malta, Kessler said that OLAF were careful to protect the investigation and avoid the spreading of rumours of such “ a potentially big corruption case”.

Such rumours could have damaged the subject person himself and the commission.

“We were dealing with explosive fuel, if I may say,” Kessler added.

When searching Dalli’s office OLAF found “absolutely nothing relevant. Nothing relevant to the snus issue”.

Both the office and his IT devices were pronounced “sterile” by forensic officers.

The investigation was wrapped up in October 2012 and Kessler recommended that Maltese  state prosecutor Peter Grech investigate Zammit, Kimberly and Dalli, Kessler said.

Disciplinary action against the commissioner was also recommended at EU level.

Direct evidence of soliciting a bribe

Asked about what led to such conclusions, Kessler said there was direct evidence that Zammit twice asked for a bribe, was in close contact with Dalli and “opened the door to the snus industry to him”.

However, under cross examination by defence lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell, Kessler admitted that none of the persons questioned had “reported” ever having heard Dalli “request anything”.

Before questioning Dalli, OLAF investigators had provided no documents by way of disclosure, not even a copy of the original complaint filed by Swedish Match.

“We don’t disclose documents. It’s in the protocol.”

Asked about Dalli’s file being nicknamed “Dead Body,” Kessler shrugged that question off, saying that files of the sort were labeled as “sensitive handling”.

He then explained that no one at OLAF, not even his secretary, was privy to the file contents.

But whenever he traveled to Malta, she would jokingly comment about his trips, saying “ah, the dead body”.

Yet in spite of being closely guarded information, the day before the report reached the Attorney General, Kessler had addressed a press conference “telling the whole world” that there was reasonable suspicion that Dalli had committed acts of bribery and trading in influence, defence lawyer Stefano Filletti pointed out.

The case continues in July. Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo is presiding.

Inspector Anthony Scerri prosecuted, assisted by AG lawyer Antoine Agius Bonnici.