Former Sliema mayor Nikki Dimech this morning complained that a statement made once by the prosecuting officer in his case was being continuously repeated in the media.

Addressing a news conference on the steps of Castille this morning, Mr Dimech, who is charged with soliciting a bribe from a contractor, said that his prosecutor had claimed in court that he (Mr Dimech) had told him that he had consumed €5,000 worth of drugs.

The prosecutor, Mr Dimech said, mentioned this only once but the media kept repeating it.

He claimed that it was not true that he had told the police inspector that but when asked if he would ask the police inspector to withdraw the statement, Mr Dimech answered he would not.

Mr Dimech was kicked out of the PN after he told the police in a statement he had asked for a bribe. Mr Dimech has insisted he had been coerced in making such a statement after suffering a panic attack while in police custody and was not given access to his inhaler.

Asked this morning whether he felt that two weights and two measures were being used, he replied in the affirmative and said that like he had been asked to resign on the basis of an allegations, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, about whom serious allegations had also been made, should have been told never to return to the PN headquarters.

Asked directly if he was corrupt, he replied:

“No I’m not, had I been so, I would not have 22 people employed with me.”