Former Sliema mayor charged with defrauding Polidano Bros

Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit has ordered a freeze on the assets of former Sliema mayor and auditor Nikki Dimech, for the value of €24,142, after he faced fresh charges of fraud and falsification of signatures on three cheques issued by the Water Services Corportation (WSC) which were payable to construction firm Polidano Brothers in 2011.

Dimech, 33 of Sliema, who is currently appealing a one-year jail term for corruption during his time as Sliema mayor, is pleading not guilty to the new charges he faces, stressing that three cheques issued by WSC in favour of Polidano Brothers, was money owed to him by Charles Polidano for professional assistance he rendered to the contractor, who had been investigated by the Tax Compliance Unit (TCU) over an alleged tax evasion of €2.3 million.

According to lawyer Roberto Montalto, who appeared for Dimech, the Police should have investigated the case thoroughly before charging his client, because Dimech had in fact issued an official letter to Polidano - which has since never been contested - requesting payment for thousands of euros in professional services fees.

Prosecuting Inspector Angelo Gafà from the Economic Crimes Unit stressed however that the professional services fees claimed by Dimech, and which were repeatedly denied by Polidano, are irrelevant to the case.

Gafà said that Dimech never provided the police with any documentation related to the fees he was owed, and that a forensic analysis had shown the endorsing signatures at the back of the cheques all written in the same ink. He added that the cheques were instantly contested by the payee (Polidano) as having been falsified.

The police inspector said that the investigations were prompted following a report filed by WSC chairman Louis Giordmaina, after a meeting he had with Polidano, who complained that he was not receiving reimbursement payments he was owed from the corporation for upfront payments as guarantees for works done in various localities.

WSC discovered that the payments were in fact issued to Polidano, and the bank confirmed that they were cashed and deposited into accounts belonging to Nikki Dimech's audit firm.

The cheques were issued by Victor Testa, an accountant at WSC who was also secretary at the St. Gregory's Band Club in Sliema, which is situated just 50 metres away from the Sliema local council. Testa, who was arrested together with Dimech over the matter, denied ever giving Dimech any cheques, but Dimech eventually admitted to having received the cheques from Testa, after Polidano asked him for help to collect monies he was owed from government entities

While Polidano contested ever having engaged Dimech for any professional services, lawyer Roberto Montalto presented the court with evidence this morning showing how Polidano had in fact paid Dimech the sum of €8,000 with a Banif Bank cheque, and documentation to prove that he assisted him in a TCU investigation over an alleged €2.3 million tax evasion claim.

In the correspondence presented to Court this morning, Montalto said that the Police failed to verify Dimech's version in its entirety and allowed Polidano to make an allegation against his client, when facts proved otherwise.

Montalto added that while his client and Polidano had a verbal agreement between them over the TCU investigation, which entitled Dimech to receive a 2.5% commission from the amount which would be cleared by the TCU in its investigation, there was correspondence to prove that the three contested cheques were used to set off the balance of €115,000 which Polidano owed his client.

Gafa insisted that the explanation was irrelevant, given that Polidano always claimed that he was unaware that the cheques were cashed by Dimech and that his signature was falsified.

The case has been put off to another date, while police have initiated separate crimal proceedings against Victor Testa.