"Tobaccogate", Dalli and EU legalisation of SNUS

[Matt Gluggles]

Legal Disclaimer - the following post is in no way intended to allege the former EU Health Commisioner John Dalli has commited any wrong-doing or had any knowledge of any wrong-doing, and to point out that Mr Dalli has denied any part in the fraud allegations.


The police are investigating break-ins at the offices of 3 anti-smoking lobby groups in which thieves stole material related to their campaigns against the tobacco industry. (more info here)

The burglaries took place 2 days after the Health Commissioner, John Dalli, resigned following a corruption investigation.

The latest development is that Swedish Match, a producer of SNUS, said that it had been asked for a €60-million bribe to arrange for the lifting of a European ban on the product outside Sweden. (details here)

Swedish Match said "The Maltese businessman expressed to us very clearly that he was speaking on behalf of Dalli." - although Mr Dalli denies this.

The fraud unit, which has passed its findings to the Maltese authorities, itself acknowledged that it had found no conclusive evidence that Mr. Dalli had directly participated in requesting money. However, it concluded: “There are a number of unambiguous circumstantial pieces of evidence” indicating that “Commissioner Dalli was aware of the activities of the Maltese entrepreneur and of the fact that this person was using the Commissioner’s name and position to gain financial advantages.” -
( Fraud Unit Press Release - here )

The changes to the EU Tobacco Products Directive, are now on hold for a minimum of 2 years (details here)

New Europe, the European Political Newspaper has reported about the Tobacco Lobby working actively from inside the European Parliament and the Wikipedia page for SNUS is updated from a computer whose IP address is located inside the European Parliament building itself (details here)

Sweden is stepping up its efforts to lift the European Union's ban on SNUS tobacco opening up a $2.3 billion market for Swedish Match. Swedish officials have long argued that SNUS offers a safer alternative than other forms of tobacco.
( details here )

The Swedish trade minister said "I hope the EU Commission themselves now see that all cards must come up on the table and all facts need to be discussed openly," and also that the Commission has so far ignored scientific research indicating that the stuff is less harmful than cigarettes and other forms of smokefree tobacco - They now want any new Tobacco Products Directive to re-consider SNUS in a "fair way"

Swedish Match Press Release here

So Dalli has resigned, the Tobacco Products Directive is dead in the water and Sweden demanding the EU ban on SNUS be lifted in any new Tobacco Products Directive.

One thing is sure, this story known as "tobaccogate" is far from over.