Former European Commissioner John Dalli is requesting a public apology from Dutch politician Pieter Omzigt for reproducing “spurious information” without verifying the allegations.

In a report for the Council of Europe, Omzigt had written that former police commissioner John Rizzo was preparing corruption charges against Dalli. Rizzo had been dismissed by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat soon after the 2013 election and his substitute, Peter Paul Zammit, had not taken any action against Dalli.

In his letter to Omzigt, made available to the media, Dalli said “you (Omzigt) have reproduced spurious information which were fed to you by the megalomaniac hate mongers in Malta and which you endorsed without verifying the allegations. This not only shows that you are shallow and irresponsible, but also that you cannot be trusted with producing an objective contribution in the fight against corruption.”

“In your rule of law standard, what relevance do you give to the presumption of innocence,” Dalli asked.

The fact that Rizzo was preparing charges against him did not prove any guilt, Dalli contended.

Dalli said that before returning to Malta he had informed the police when he was due to return. When he did, Rizzo was still Commissioner and had he wanted to proceed with the action against him, he had all the time to do so.

Dalli said he suspected the allegations about him came from “one of the top megalomaniac hate mongers in Malta”.

“You  (Omzigt) let yourself be instrumentalised by your prompter to serve the agenda of the megalomaniac hate mongers in Malta,” Dalli wrote.

He added later that “the fact that you and your prompter throw mud at me in this way shows your utter disrespect for the rule of law and for the presumption of innocence, which you are supposed to be protecting”.

Dalli told Omzigt that he hoped the Dutch politician would have the decency to apologise publicly and have a genuine sense of duty to investigate the Commission for the impunity granted to their officials.

Dalli's letter in full