ROME – A senior FAO official told a court Thursday that Italian Insider had "scandalously" accused him of "providing prostitutes" for former FAO director general Jacques Diouf, strongly denying any such activities as well as denying an Insider report that he rigged the appointment of an FAO press officer.

 Mehdi Drissi,  a French Moroccan programme officer of the UN agency, testified in the Rome Tribunal during a hearing of the defamation case against Insider editor in chief John Phillips, who is charged with criminal libel against Drissi and three other FAO executives as well as defaming the image of the FAO.

 Drissi, a former press office head at the agency now based at the FAO Latin American headquarters in Chile, strongly denied an Insider report that his role in the appointment of a press officer in the Santiago FAO office was irregular. He said that he had made a final list of “4,5,6” employees suitable for the post, and that the person appointed to run the whole operation for Latin America, Juan Toha, the nephew of the mayor of Santiago Carolina Toha, was selected "on the basis of experience."

 The Insider report quoted FAO sources saying two talented women who applied for the job were more experienced than Toha and that they deliberately were rejected.

 Drissi said he had interpreted an Insider article as insinuating that he had been responsible for arranging “prostitutes” for his employer when Drissi was working in the Paris FAO office. He categorically denied this. "It is scandalous," he told the court.

 Drissi described what he said was the psychological impact the Insider articles have had on him personally, and explained that his online presence has been tainted by Phillips’ reporting. “When you type my name into Google the Italian Insider comes up as the second item,” he said.

 Drissi claimed he had been accused of providing prostitutes, but the defense lawyer in the case, Avv. Manfredo Andreozzi, highlighted that the original phrase in English used in the Italian Insider article suggested merely that the French executive had arranged “traditional French services in amour,” a phrase that is open to more than one interpretation.

 Avv. Andreozzi asked that closer examination of dubious translations made of the Insider texts by plaintiffs be made available.

 Judge Chiara Riva ordered that the defense provide a list of the contested translations made by the plaintiffs used in the indictment, to be deposited at the court chancellor's office by Feb. 28, so that they can be examined by a court appointed translator and translators for the plaintiffs.

 FAO Director General José Graziano di Silva was due in court to testify Thursday but did not show up. Instead he sent a typed note to the judge that was read aloud and stated that he would not be attending the hearing due to work-related reasons and that he was unsure if he would be able to attend any hearing in 2018.

 The trial was adjourned by Judge Riva to June 12, 2018.