The Swedish tobacco manufacturer Swedish Match tipped off OLAF in the early 2010s that the Maltese European Commissioner for Health John Dalli had accepted money to accelerate the commercialization of the tobacco product snus in Europe. OLAF then started an investigation. Kessler arranged a telephone conversation between tobacco lobbyist Inge Delfosse and Silvio Zammit, who was close to John Dalli. That conversation was recorded and used in the study.
That recording was made illegally and Kessler was sentenced to one year suspended by the criminal court on Friday.