Former Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said had decided he would step down “a while ago” if a court decided he should be charged with perjury.

In an interview with The Sunday Times after his shock resignation from his position within the Office of the Prime Minister, the former parliamentary secretary says he was “set on this course when the case was still being heard before a magistrate in Gozo”, though he insists he did nothing wrong.

Dr Said is hopeful that the perjury case will be heard with urgency and take no longer than six months or sooner if his request for urgency is met.

On Thursday afternoon he handed his resignation letter to the Prime Minister after an appeals court – overturning a magistrates’ court decision – ordered police to prosecute Dr Said after finding there was a prima facie case to answer for perjury.

Dr Said was informed about the decree in the morning while he was on his way to address a seminar in Gozo. He called the Prime Minister on the phone but kept his commitment. He then headed to Castille, after calling at home to break the news to his wife, and wrote his resignation letter on the ferry.

The resignation revolves around a technical legal battle, which started in 2007 as a custody case over a newborn child in which Dr Said, acting in his professional capacity as a lawyer, represented British citizen Helen Milligan against her former partner Anthony Xuereb.

Mr Xuereb is claiming that in evidence tendered by Dr Said in 2009, the former Parliamentary Secretary erroneously said that a court had decided to return the child to the mother after it had heard all sides of the case in an evening sitting.

In the interview, Dr Said admits to the mistake but insists he had no intention of lying about facts which could easily have been verified.

“I don’t even think I needed to testify because they asked me to say what happened when all of this was recorded in court documents.”

He also insists that Mr Xuereb is seeking revenge for the forceful way in which he had defended his client back in 2007, and indicates in stronger terms than before that he believes he is being subjected to a political attack by Gozitan Labour MP Justyne Caruana. However, he stops short of making such an accusation and limits himself to pointing out that the complaint about his testimony was filed two days after he and other four Nationalist MPs said they heard Dr Caruana vote with the government on a motion.

“The challenge was filed two days after the incident in Parliament and a year after I gave my evidence. Those are facts,” he says.

When announcing that he was accepting the resignation, the Prime Minister had said Dr Said’s post would be left vacant, leaving the door open for his return.

When asked whether he realistically expected the matter to be settled quickly, Dr Said says he is hopeful since it was a relatively uncomplicated case.