John Dalli's former aide files protest over AG's discretionary powers

Former John Dalli aide Silvio Zammit on Friday filed a judicial protest against the Attorney General's discretionary powers.
The protest came a day after a Magistrates' Court declared that there was sufficient grounds for Mr Zammit to be placed under a bill of indictment for trading in influence and complicity in bribery.
Restaurateur Zammit's lawyers filed the act against the Attorney General, the Police Commissioner and the Justice Minister, calling upon the latter to effect the necessary changes to the Criminal Code so that the resulting abuse, often unnoticed by the man in the street, might be curbed.
The former aide and canvasser to Mr Dalli stands accused of seeking two bribes, including a "60 million one from a Swedish snus tobacco producer to influence changes to an EU tobacco directive when Mr Dalli was EU Health Commissioner.
A key witness in the compilation of evidence against Mr Zammit, Inge Delfosse, had refused to travel to Malta to testify, fearing that she risked incriminating herself by doing so.
The prosecution's insistence on having this witness testify, in spite of her persistent refusal, had prompted a constitutional application which resulted in a judgment...

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