The court case against John Dalli can finally kick off after the European Commission waived the former commissioner’s immunity from prosecution.

A spokesperson for the Commission told the Times of Malta that after a lengthy process they had decided to lift Dalli’s immunity.

“The Commission can confirm that, on request of the Attorney General of Malta, the Commission has waived the immunity of former commissioner John Dalli,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that this decision is not to be taken as a pronunciation of the commission’s opinion on the case.

The case is now set to start on December 21, after it had initially been slated to start in Septemberv, and then November.

A sitting in November was adjourned after a courtroom debate over Dalli’s immunity.

Dalli attended the first sitting of the case which regards an alleged €60 million bribe to help overturn an EU-wide ban on snus, a form of smokeless tobacco.

Dalli served on the commission between 2010 and 2012.

One of Dalli's associates at the time had allegedly asked for a €60 million bribe from a tobacco company to help overturn a ban in the EU on snus. Dalli was forced to quit from the European Commission in 2012 as a result of this, after an investigation by OLAF - the EU's anti-fraud office, had uncovered the bribery attempt.

After Dalli resigned from the Commission in 2012, Joseph Muscat (once elected) had appointed him as a consultant on health reform.

Dalli has continuously insisted that the case is part of an orchestrated against him, with his reasoning ranging from the case being an excuse to get Malta off the grey-list to it being a creation by the supposedly corrupt media.