In his first interview since ‘admitting’ to police that he asked a contractor for commission, Sliema mayor Nikki Dimech tells Christian Peregin he is ­innocent.

Sitting in his Sliema apartment office, Nikki Dimech, 31, is surrounded by framed certificates of achievement. But his tired voice and drained look of frustration paint a different picture of the successful young auditor and up-and-coming politician who recently found himself embroiled in a crisis, which he claims is a “frame-up”.

Mr Dimech is proud of having built a career for himself despite a difficult past and humble upbringing. He always believed anybody interested in politics should first sort out their professional life and make sure they have a healthy income.

Ironically, he says he did this to avoid running the risk of falling into the very trap he is being accused of plunging headfirst into.

The Sliema council which Mr Dimech heads has been under investigation for weeks after claims surfaced that funds were being mismanaged. But before the investigation was completed, he was summoned to police headquarters for a “chat” on August 11.

From that day on he felt he has been living in a crime thriller where he is the unlikely hero with a conspiracy theory no one would believe.

As soon as he walked into the police station with his supportive girlfriend, Mr Dimech says he was told he was under arrest and that his political career was over.

“The inspector told me my only option was to safeguard my career as an auditor by keeping the case as quiet as possible. He said all I had to do was admit the charges and resign – and this could all be done without people knowing what happened, the same way as had happened with other councillors. Either that, or he would arraign me in front of all the press.”

Mr Dimech says that at 1 p.m. he was interrogated for the first time, after being given the chance to consult only one lawyer, which proved impossible since he was abroad.

In his first police statement, Mr Dimech said contractor Stephen Buhagiar had spent days harassing him to be awarded a contract with a good wage. During one of their encounters, Mr Buhagiar offered a percentage to Mr Dimech and eventually, to get rid of him, the Sliema mayor claimed to have said “OK, but it’s impossible”. He said the contractor left angrily.

The first interrogation ended in an hour, after which Mr Dimech says he was placed in a cell where he suffered a panic attack and asked for his asthma inhaler and anti-depressants.

The police had a different version. In a statement, they said: “Mr Dimech was afforded all constitutional rights available to all suspects undergoing police interrogation in Malta. He even requested and was allowed to consult with a lawyer of his choice prior to the interrogation. Mr Dimech’s inhaler and pills were also brought to Police General Headquarters, by a friend of his, while he was in police custody. However, he did not request to make use of them.”

But Mr Dimech insists that by 4 p.m. he had not been given his inhaler, even though his girlfriend went to fetch one and asked the police to give it to him.

Instead, a second interrogation took place. It lasted less than half an hour, and according to Mr Dimech, he was “broken” and could not think straight.

“I just wanted to get out of there. I was lying back on my chair, hardly aware of what was happening. They were trying to make me say something that wasn’t true. It was like they were showing me a mobile phone and telling me that unless I say it is a TV I would never get out of there. I gave up and told them what they wanted to hear,” he says, insisting he did not tell the truth.

In the second statement, Mr Dimech states he did not tell the full truth earlier. He also said it was correct to say he had asked for commission, even though he does not have financial problems and never asked for or received any other commission before.

“The words in the second statement are totally false,” he says, stressing that the fact that a second statement was taken showed how strongly the police wanted their version of events corroborated.

He says it was after he signed the second statement that he was finally given his inhaler and pills and allowed to leave.

“Minutes after I left, I received a phone call from (PN general secretary) Paul Borg Olivier asking me what I said in my statement,” Mr Dimech says.

That was when the mayor began to think this was an organised attempt to force him to resign. He says the phone call quickly degenerated.

“He kept asking me to tell him what I said in my statement. I started reading the statement but then I asked him to tell me how he found out I was questioned by the police.”

Asked why he did not tell Dr Borg Olivier that the police forced him to admit the charges, Mr Dimech said: “He did not want to know.”

During their telephone conversation, Mr Dimech says Dr Borg Olivier told him that his position was untenable and he should resign.

The next day, the contents of his police statement reached the newspapers, and later, Dr Borg Olivier said Mr Dimech had been kicked out of the party because he refused to resign.

“I told him to kick me out because I was not going to resign. Why should I resign if I did nothing wrong? Just because there is this one person making allegations about me?”

Describing politics as a vocation, Mr Dimech says he is interested in contesting the next general election so he does not want to resign since it would look like an admission of guilt.

He does not believe he should resign simply because there is a police investigation, since he is convinced it has no basis.

There is only one thing that will convince him to lose faith in politics and bow out:

“The Prime Minister is the person I admire most in politics. I trust his judgment. So if he asks me to leave, then I will just get out of politics,” he says.

So why does he think Dr Borg Olivier is bent on ruining his political career?

“I don’t think he ever liked me. But after speaking to some people I think I know why this is happening. I’ve heard he wants to contest the 10th district,” Mr Dimech says.

Mr Dimech says Dr Borg Olivier organised a meeting for PN ­councillors to sign a motion of no confidence in the mayor.

Nationalist councillor Sandra Camilleri accused the PN general secretary of forcing her to sign the, motion against her will. Since then, Ms Camilleri, 63, said she was considering resigning over the matter because she was disgusted by Dr Borg Olivier’s behaviour.

Mr Dimech described his actions in her regard as “most dishonourable and disrespectful” and believes it is Dr Borg Olivier who should resign because of the way he mishandled the affair.

Mr Dimech feels he was an “easy target”, primarily because of his nature to trust people too easily and also because of what he describes as “his past”.

Without going into details, he says that 10 years ago he was in a very different place to where he is today, and could have landed in serious trouble with the police.

“But I have overcome that. I got my warrant and built a life for myself. Why would I throw away my professional career for a few thousand euros? I don’t want to boast, but I really don’t need the money. That’s the whole reason I made sure I got into politics after securing a good career.”

He says he was given a medal for placing first in his London Masters degree and was also featured on the magazine of ACCA as a top auditor.

He believes there has been an organised movement to force him to resign since he was elected.

Mr Dimech does not blame Mr Buhagiar for his predicament and does not even think he should be charged for seeking the job through bribery:

“I don’t blame him. I know what it’s like to be poor and to have a family to feed... I think he was used to get rid of me. Why else would he wait until the end of the investigation to come out with this?”

He says the false accusation was made after Mr Buhagiar was fired from the council by a motion of the deputy mayor who said he was “dishonest” and was not keeping his side of the ­contract.

So why did Mr Dimech take so long to speak out about the issue?

“I’ve spent the past week-and-a-half at home, frustrated, perplexed and amazed about how all this started from the allegations of one person. I believe time will prove me right. I wanted to regain my senses before commenting.”

What hurt him most was that before even being charged, he and his family were treated like criminals.

“My mother was ashamed to walk into a supermarket. Why can’t people let others be? I received so many e-mails saying I should be ashamed of myself and that they were disgusted with me. It’s not fair.”

Mr Dimech feels like he grew a thick skin in a very short time and now believes that politics is not a team-sport.

“You cannot trust anyone and you cannot depend on anyone,” he says.

He admits he was never a party man and only got involved in politics through his former mentor Robert Arrigo, whose relationship with Mr Dimech turned sour after rumours that his wife – the former Sliema mayor – was going to contest Mr Dimech, who in turn had helped Mr Arrigo in his election bid.

“Until last year I would do whatever Mr Arrigo would tell me. When I became mayor, I started using my own mind.”

Despite his problems with the party, Mr Dimech is adamant that he will either be contesting the general election with the PN or staying on as an independent mayor.

He does not acknowledge his dismissal from the party because he believes it breached the statute since he was not given the chance to give his side of the story in a formal sitting.

He is therefore waiting for a meeting with the Prime Minister for his fate to be discussed. The meeting may take place sometime next week.

Nikki Dimech’s account of his police questioning:

9.45 a.m. I entered the Floriana Police headquarters with my fiancée who waited in the waiting room while I was asked to go to the inspector’s office. The police inspector told me I was under arrest. I smiled and he shouted that this is no joke and to go tell my fiancée to leave.

My fiancée did not leave and waited for me there all the long hours of my interrogation. The police inspector told me there was an accusation against me and kept on telling me that tomorrow if I do not fully collaborate with what he was saying, I would be dragged in front of all the press to court. I told him this was not fair and I wanted to have a lawyer present.

10 a.m. I was given a phone and tried to phone my lawyer but he was abroad. When I asked to call another lawyer the police did not let me.

11 a.m. The police inspector said I can consider my career in politics already over but maybe I can salvage my professional business, only if I admitted Buhagiar’s false allegation. Otherwise he would make a show of me to the press. I kept on telling him that Buhagiar’s statement was not true but he would not accept this. This mental torture continued until the interrogation.

12.58 p.m. At this time a sergeant entered the room and the interrogating officer started typing a statement. When I said the honest truth that Mr Buhagiar’s statement was false the interrogation officer started getting very angry.

1.55 p.m. We finished the statement. He then got so angry that my statement did not confirm Mr Buhagiar’s allegation that he told them to lock me up in the basement prison cells.

2.15 p.m. At this stage I started getting very excited and started to have serious trouble breathing. I started wheezing and got a severe panic attack, I could not believe what was going on.

I asked for Ventolin (asthma inhaler) and two calming pills to calm me down so that I could breathe properly as I suffer from chronic asthma and breathing panic attacks. They called my doctor to confirm my condition and then called someone to get the medication.

But the medication did not arrive. I spent over two hours experiencing acute asthma and panic attacks on my own in a small lock-up cell. In the meantime, my girlfriend quickly brought an inhaler from the car but two hours later I was still without this inhaler.

4 p.m. I was really broken. The police took me back up to the interrogation room and demand­ed a second statement. At this point I just signed ­whatever they said as I really needed my medication. I did not even read the second ­statement.

4.45 p.m. Only after the second statement was signed and I was told that I could leave did a policeman finally come in with the medication. I just picked up my things and with the help of my girlfriend left the building disgusted with the treatment I was subjected to.

Questions sent yesterday to the police to respond to the allegations were not answered by the time of going to print.

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