I hate to see John Dalli in such straits. I hope he will soon see the end of this Olaf investigation and clear his name. I do not believe he deserves this situation.

As a former journalist, I know him as a doer. He was an effective minister, in the time of the Nationalist Party’s glory days, which have long disappeared into the night. Lawrence Gonzi, who has admitted being short of cabinet material, was deprived of the services of a very good man when the coterie around the Prime Minister ganged up against Mr Dalli and had their way.

I remember one instance in particular, which showed how Mr Dalli cared for people. The occasion was a Christmas lunch he gave for journalists. I happened to find myself seated next to him, and the talk was on minor matters, but soon turned to matters relating to our respective occupations.

As at one stage the subject was income tax. I mentioned a situation which must have been affecting hundreds of people. I am writing from memory, I have no notes and this was some 15 years ago, but if I remember correctly, the point I made was that the Inland Revenue Department did not consider as tax deductible the maintenance one partner of a broken marriage paid to the other.

Mr Dalli was surprised and said he would look into the matter. He did, the minister took action. Within a few months the necessary changes were made to the law and – again, if I remember correctly – the changes involved a legislative amendment.

As it turned out, there was still a difficulty after this amendment was enacted and the Inland Revenue would still not consider such maintenance as tax deductible. There was some snag or another, but apparently the matter could be settled administratively, and it was.

Mr Dalli had no particular incentive to do what he did. I was not one of his constituents, I did not live in a district he contested and neither was I a close friend. He knew me as a journalist, I knew him as the Minister of Finance. But he saw the justice of the point I was making, and went to the trouble of correcting an injustice. He could easily have ignored me, but he did not.

I shall always hold him in respect for taking the trouble to listen and then acting on what he had been told.

Roger Mifsud,

Rabat