Sliema deputy mayor, Silvio Zammit, this evening tendered his resignation as councillor and deputy mayor after allegedly being involved in the investigation which led to the resignation of John Dalli from European Commissioner. 

In a letter sent to the secretary general of the PN, Mr Zammit, said he was resigning with immediate effect citing 'personal reasons'.

Mr Dalli resigned from his post as EU Commissioner with immediate effect following an investigation by OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud office, into a complaint made in May 2012 by tobacco producer Swedish Match.

The company alleged that a Maltese entrepreneur had used his contacts with Mr Dalli to try to gain financial advantages from the company in return for seeking to influence a possible future legislative proposal on tobacco products, in particular on the EU export ban on snus. As soon as the Commission received the complaint, it immediately requested OLAF to investigate.

The OLAF final report was sent to the Commission on October 15. It found that the Maltese entrepreneur had approached the company using his contacts with Mr Dalli and sought to gain financial advantages in exchange for influence over a possible future legislative proposal on snus. No transaction was concluded between the company and the entrepreneur and no payment was made. The OLAF report did not find any conclusive evidence of the direct participation of Mr Dalli but did consider that he was aware of these events.

The OLAF report showed clearly that the European Commission's decision-making process and the position of the services concerned has not been affected at all by the matters under investigation. The final OLAF report and its recommendations are being sent by OLAF to the Attorney General of Malta. It will now up to the Maltese judiciary to decide how to follow up.