EU official quits after bribe query closes

The European Union's top health official has resigned after a report found an entrepreneur said he could bribe the official to lift a ban on a tobacco product. EU health commissioner John Dalli said Tuesday he chose to resign "in order to defend his reputation and that of the Commission," The Local.se reported. A report issued Monday in Brussels by the EU's anti-fraud office, OLAF, cleared Dalli in large part, saying that while it found no evidence the process by which the commission makes decisions was affected, Dalli "was aware of these events." Tobacco company Swedish Match reported to OLAF in May that a Maltese businessman said he could use his connections with Dalli, who is also from Malta, to influence the commission to allow the export of snus, a Swedish smokeless tobacco product similar to snuff. The businessman, who has not been named, said he wanted to "gain financial advantages" from Swedish Match in exchange for using his influence, the company told OLAF. Swedish Match produces snus, which is consumed primarily in Norway and Sweden, but banned in the rest of the EU. The Swedish government has been working for years to get the EU to allow the product's export. The report said that "no transaction was concluded between the tobacco company and the entrepreneur and "no payment was made."