EU health commissioner resigns over anti-fraud case

BRUSSELS Oct 16 (Reuters) - The European Union's top health official resigned on Tuesday after an anti-fraud investigation connected him to an attempt to influence EU tobacco legislation, the European Commission said.

The EU's anti-fraud office OLAF found that a Maltese businessman had tried to use his contacts with Commissioner John Dalli, who is Maltese, for financial gain by offering to influence future EU legislation on tobacco products.

"The OLAF report did not find any conclusive evidence of the direct participation of Mr Dalli but did consider that he was aware of these events," the Commissions said in a statement, sayng that Dalli had resigned with immediate effect.

Dalli has rejected OLAF's findings, the statement said.

The statement said it was up to Maltese judicial authorities to decide if they wanted to pursue the case.