Former European Commissioner John Dalli has accused the EU Commission President Barroso of being hypocritical in his handling of the latest scandal to blight the EU Commission.

On Friday, the news broke that EU Commissioner for Trade De Gucht is to be charged in the Belgian Court for tax evasion.

Mr Dalli pointed out that the Commission said that “we cannot prejudge the outcome and the presumption of innocence must be respected. This inquiry concerns issues that are unrelated to the functions of a Commissioner, so unrelated to the functions of Commissioner De Gucht's portfolio and the tasks that are being performed by him.”

In a statement, Mr Dalli said that “the presumption of innocence was not respected at all by the Commission and by OLAF,” in his case, and Barroso’s action to terminate him was very rapid, denying him access to the report on which the decision to terminate was based and also denying him the time to seek legal advice.

The statement said that Commissioner Dalli had made it clear to Barroso, verbally and in writing that he had nothing to do with the discussions that went on between Maltese parties and Swedish Match / ESTOC. 

Mr Dalli also pointed out that no action was taken against him by the Maltese authorities.

“The differences between the de Gucht case and my case are very obvious. The tobacco industry was not involved in the de Gucht case. The Belgian Government did not see the termination of de Gucht as an opportunity,” Mr Dalli said in the statement.