Sliema councillor 'forced' to sign motion to have mayor Nikki Dimech removed

Eyewitnesses said Borg Olivier was overheard "coercing" the Sliema PN councilor into signing a declaration "against her will" in a bid to oust Nikki Dimech as Sliema mayor and nominate Johanna Gonzi instead.

Accompanied by his assistant Jean-Pierre Debono, the PN secretary-general was overheard telling councillor Sandra Camilleri she could be sacked, or expelled from the PN, unless she accepted Johanna Gonzi instead of Nikki Dimech, who this week was summoned for questioned at the Floriana police HQ by the economic crimes unit.

Sources said Borg Olivier was "making a scene" as he told Camilleri that he could not accept councillors that don't toe the party line.

Camilleri was seen crying and telling Paul Borg Olivier that he was forcing her to sign something against her wishes, while insisting that “Nikki Dimech has been framed.”

In the end, Camilleri signed a paper which Jean-Pierre Debono produced and stormed out of the pub still crying. While Paul Borg Olivier has not replied to questions sent by MaltaToday, Sandra Camilleri was not available for comment.

Nikki Dimech was this week ‘expelled’ from the Nationalist Party, but the mayor has vowed to stay on as an independent councillor. In a statement the PN said that Dimech was informed his position was “untenable” and a resignation was expected. “Since Mr Dimech did not resign, the PN no longer considers Dimech a PN representative in the Sliema local council and does not form part of the party’s structures. The PN expects him to immediately resign as mayor and councilor.”

But friends of Dimech who spoke to MaltaToday are claiming the Sliema mayor was “forced” to sign a sworn statement admitting guilt. MaltaToday has learnt that Dimech signed two police statements on Wednesday, 11 August. In the first one, signed at 1pm, he denies outright to interrogating police inspector Angelo Gafà of having demanded a €5,000 commission from a council contractor, Stephen Buhagiar, of Swieqi.

He was then remanded into a police cell, at the Floriana headquarters where he was being interrogated, and reportedly denied his asthma inhaler. “Nikki was denied his inhaler and by the time he was interrogated a second time, he was having an asthmatic panic attack, and had difficulties breathing,” sources speaking to MaltaToday said.

At 3:30pm, he was taken back into interrogation and at 4pm he signed a second statement, this time admitting having asked for a commission from Buhagiar, for works he carries out for the Sliema council. “He came back home saying he was desperate by the time he was questioned a second time, and had admitted to the charges to obtain a swift release from the police depot.”