Marvic Camilleri has dropped charges against his former boyfriend, Sliema deputy mayor Cyrus Engerer, who is being accused of circulating naked pictures of him to his employers and friends.

Mr Camilleri filed a note in the records of the case in which he renounced criminal action against Mr Engerer, the latter’s lawyer Franco Debono confirmed, but the police may still proceed against Mr Engerer given the nature of some of the charges.

When contacted, Mr Camilleri did not comment. The case goes back to January 2010 when Mr Camilleri filed a police report after nude images of him were stolen from his computer and circulated via e-mail to his employers and friends. He suspected this was the vindictive work of Mr Engerer.

The Times broke the story that the police had charged Mr Engerer in July, some days after Mr Engerer defected from the Nationalist Party and joined Labour. The news came a few days after Mr Engerer’s father was arrested over marijuana possession.

The government strongly denied suspicions of political motivation over the timing of both police ­investigations, and an inquiry was launched. In July, Mr Camilleri had told The Times that he was willing to forgive Mr Engerer but still wanted justice to run its course.

The two are said to have remained friends.

The case against Mr Engerer has been appointed for hearing in ­October, however, his lawyer confirmed that he has not yet been notified.

The independent inquiry has also been asked to establish how the police charges ended up in the public domain before Mr Engerer was notified.