Update 2 | More MEPs call into question OLAF's handling of Dalli investigation

Updated at 6pm with OLAF statement

A German MEP has called for the suspension of OLAF director-general Giovanni Kessler in the wake of allegations that he took a witness in the John Dalli investigation for lunch and a glass of wine after a seven-hour interrogation.

Inge Graessle, from the European People's Party, said Kessler whould be suspended by European Commission Algirdas Semeta over "serious failings" in the OLAF investigation.

Witness Gayle Kimberley was the first person to be interrogated by Kessler in his investigation of a €60 million bribe solicited by businessman Silvio Zammit from a Swedish Match official, in a bid to overturn the EU ban on the sale of snus.

In court this week, Kimberley claimed that following a seven-hour interrogation, Kessler took the witness for a spot of lunch before returning to the hotel room where OLAF officials were typing out her statement. But Kimberley claimed she felt "woozy" from the wine she had drank, and that she could not review her written statement properly before signing it.

"Commissioner Semeta should finally pull the emergency brake and suspend the OLAF director-general and initiate impeachment proceedings before this affair embroils him due to very serious failings of the OLAF director-general," Graessle, the rapporteur for the OLAF Regulation, said.

In a reaction, an OLAF spokesperson said that all interviews were carried out in full accordance with OLAF procedures and legal requirements, in the presence of two or more investigators.

"In accordance with these procedures, all persons interviewed were given the opportunity to review the interview record and to make corrections.

"After the first interview, which had lasted for several hours, Ms Kimberley was offered a short lunch on the same premises at which the interview had taken place, while the record of the interview was being completed.  She was given the opportunity to review the draft record and she amended it.

"Several months later, Ms Kimberley was interviewed on two further occasions, in the presence of her lawyer.  She confirmed the evidence given at the first interview."

Graessle has already called for the resignation of Giovanni Kessler over allegations by members of the OLAF supervisory committee that the anti-fraud agency encouraged third parties to illegally record conversations of subjects in the Dalligate investigation.

John Dalli resigned on 16 October 2012 on the strength of a covering letter to the OLAF invesigative report - which so far has not been published - claiming there was circumstantial evidence that he was aware that a bribe had been offerred.

"If it is true that the investigators took the witness out for lunch for an hour and a half, drinking wine, and then compelled her to sign the statement in a drunken state, and refused to amend the statement disparingly, then these are seriously professionaly and ethical shortcomings, showing a bias from the start to find evidence that did not exist.

"It makes the OLAF investigation unit look ridiculous and damages the EU's reputation seriously," Graessle said.

The MEP also called on the President of the European Parliament, socialist MEP Martin Schulz, to grant access to the report of the supervisory committee that shows "the failings and the amateurish investigation" by OLAF in the Dalli investigation.

More criticism came from Green MEPs José Bové and Bart Staes, who were the first to reveal that both OLAF and Swedish Match knew that Gayle Kimberley had lied about a crucial meeting during which the prospect of a bribe suggested in the presence of Dalli, was untrue.

"Next Tuesday, OLAF's supervisory committee will present its report on the functioning of OLAF to the budgetary control committee, which might have serious implications for the Dalli case," Staes said.

Earlier this week, MEPs adopted a resolution that expressed concern on the way OLAF was conducting its investigations, and called for more transparency. "Pretty clear language to me, now let's see how healthy the democratic values of the EP's leaders are," Staes added.

José Bové, vice-chair of the agriculture committee said the statements made by Kimberley in court raised new questions on the methods of inquiry being applied by OLAF and in particular by Giovanni Kessler.

"If the hearing of Johann Denolf, chair of OLAF's supervisory committee, who will be presenting the report on OLAF in the next meeting of COCOBU, would confirm these worrying allegations, the European Parliament should ask itself if the leadership of the EU's anti-fraud agency needs to be replaced.

"This European agency has the obligation to be above all suspicion in fulfilling its mission, in order to be able to combat fraud and embezzlements, to guarantee that tax payers money is not defrauded and to fight conflicts of interests and the pressure of lobbies on European policy making."