Contractor gave €25,000 to former mayor, court hears

Former Sliema mayor Nikki Dimech received nearly €25,000 from a refuse contractor who admitted to paying him the 10 per cent commission he had demanded, a court heard yesterday.

Police Inspector Angelo Gafà said the contractor, Joseph Vella, 56, from St Paul’s Bay, admitted that he had paid through nine cheques because he feared that if he did not pay Mr Dimech his contract would have been stopped.

Mr Vella is accused of bribing Mr Dimech.

Horticulturist Peter Calleja was earlier this month given a suspended sentence after he pleaded guilty to bribing Mr Dimech when he passed on a cheque for €4,720 in connection with the supply of 500 ponsietta plants to the Sliema council.

Mr Dimech has a pending court case in which he is accused of receiving bribes.

Mr Gafà said his investigations had revealed that Mr Vella delivered the cheques to Mr Dimech’s office in Ta’ Xbiex.

Investigations began when he received two anonymous letters. The first, in September last year, had a list of six companies that were all Sliema council contractors, including Veljo Services, owned by Mr Vella. In October 2010, he received another anonymous letter with specific allegations, including one that Mr Dimech was paid commissions by Mr Vella. The letters also mentioned two other councillors but the witness did not elaborate.

After obtaining a warrant, he analysed Mr Dimech’s accounts with HSBC and APS Bank. He noted a number of deposits through cheques issued by Mr Vella between October 2009 and April 2010, which, Mr Gafà said, were “suspicious”.

Only two of the cheques, for a total of €4850, were actually issued in the name of Mr Dimech and his company. The rest bore the names of his mother, his fiancée or other companies but they all would end up deposited in his account after being signed by the person they were addressed to.

Two of the cheques, each for €3,000, were issued on behalf of Mr Dimech’s mother, Josephine, and another three, for a total of about €5,000, bore the name of his fiancée, Valentina Rea.

A cheque for €1,850 was issued to C&N Accounting Services and another for €6,785 was addressed to V.G. Tiles Company Limited, a client of Mr Dimech’s accounting firm.

Victor Galea, the owner of V.G. Tiles, confirmed that Mr Dimech was his company’s accountant. When shown the cheque and a signature at the back that looked like his, Mr Galea pointed out that, though similar, it was not his signature.

Mr Dimech’s mother said she was not aware of the cheques but argued that they could have been Christmas presents from her son which she would have signed and deposited back into his account.

Ms Rea said she was aware of the cheques she was asked to sign and said she was unsuspecting because Mr Dimech was the main breadwinner.

When questioned, Mr Gafa continued, Mr Dimech refused to reply to any questions.

Mr Vella’s relationship with the Sliema local council went back to August 19, 2009, when he had reached an agreement to collect the town’s refuse for an average of €8,000 a month.

In December of that year, Mr Dimech and some other councillors had approached Mr Vella to make an extra collection for the busy festive period. They settled for €14,700 over and above the other contract he had won. This service ran until around April, 2010, the witness said.

Sometime later, Mr Vella told the police, Mr Dimech called a one-to-one meeting and asked him for a 10 per cent commission on every payment issued by the council. Mr Vella said he felt he had no choice but to pay up, fearing that the contract would have otherwise been dropped.

Mr Vella told the investigating officer that he used to write the amount and sign the cheque while leaving the fields for the payee and the amount in words blank.

When he was shown the cheques, Mr Vella confirmed the signature was his but pointed out that the handwriting was not.

Mr Gafà said Mr Vella also carried out waste collection in St Paul’s Bay, Mellieħa and St Julians but said that he never paid commissions to any of the councils.

The case continues in December.

Lawyer Victor Scerri appeared for Mr Vella.