John Dalli files defamation complaint against Swedish Match

In a statement, former EU commissioner John Dalli filed a complaint for defamation against Swedish Match in the Court of First Instance in Belgium.

In his complaint, Dalli accuses Swedish Match of distributing false information about him. 

In a statement, he insists that Swedish Match "repeatedly reported a meeting on the 10^th of February between Dalli and the Maltese consultant employed by them in which they alleged facts that are totally untrue."

Dalli maintains that he did not meet the consultant, or had any contact with her on the 10^th February 2012 or at any time after meeting her on the 6^th January 2012.

"Swedish Match who in conjunction with ESTOC had filed the report to the commission on which the OLAF investigation started, have been lobbying extensively for the ban on the marketing of SNUS in Europe (except Sweden) to be removed," Dalli says in his statement.

"The Tobacco industry has been also lobbying extensively to dilute the planned rules that were being proposed by Commissioner Dalli in the revision of the Tobacco Products Directive."

Dalli is presently in Brussels finalising other legal actions that he is planning to institute in the European Court of Justice and eventually the European Court of Human Rights.