Judge and Maltese Olympic Committee President Lino Farrugia Sacco has no intention of stepping down from either post, saying yesterday that the Prime Minister was “trying to be funny” in calling for his resignation.

My Italian lawyers told me there aren’t grounds for filing a case

He insisted it would be business as usual for him and MOC secretary Joe Cassar, and said he would be taking his case to the sports world’s highest court, the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Both men are embroiled in an Olympic ticketing controversy, sparked by secret footage taken by two undercover reporters from The Sunday Times of London.

The published footage prompted an International Olympic Committee investigation, which last Thursday found that Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco had “allowed the journalists to prove their point” by talking to undercover reporters clearly looking for ways to circumvent the official mechanisms.

Mr Cassar was also rapped by the IOC, which said his actions had “helped the reputation of the Olympic movement to be tarnished”.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday called on Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco to “choose the honourable path” and resign, saying that the judiciary’s credibility was at stake.

“If he does not do so, the necessary procedures allowed by law would have to be taken,” Dr Gonzi warned in the course of an interview held at a PN meeting in Żebbuġ.

Calls for his resignation were echoed by Alternattiva Demo-kratika, which also said the Commission for the Administration of Justice needed to “pull up its socks” and conclude its investigation into the matter.

Quizzed by The Times upon his return to Malta from Rome yesterday, Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco suggested the Prime Minister had spoken too hastily.

“He’s trying to be funny. Does the Prime Minister know the facts? Forty-nine European countries yesterday said nothing improper happened and that only the procedures were wrong.”

Those countries are the various European Olympic Committees which on Saturday pledged their “unanimous support” for Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco, Mr Cassar and four other Olympic officials from Greece, Lithuania and Serbia also implicated in the The Sunday Times of London sting.

The 49 committees say those accused were not given a fair hearing by the IOC and that the London newspaper operation was a clear case of entrapment.

Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco said that those beating the drum for his resignation had a “mediaeval mentality”.

“The IOC decision simply said that the English journalists wanted to prove that not everything in the sports world was clean, and that they had proven that.”

He dismissed suggestions that Malta’s participation in future Olympics games was at stake and said if any sanctions followed, they would concern ticket accreditations.

The IOC investigation found that the words of those investigated had not been “altered or taken out of context” in press articles. But Mr Farrugia Sacco said that the secret footage had been “doctored” to give the impression he was present at times when he wasn’t. “It’s a farce,” he said.

Asked by The Times whether he planned on suing The Sunday Times of London for having libelled him, Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco admitted he did not have much of a case.

“My Italian lawyers told me there aren’t grounds for filing a case because the journalists said nothing about me,” he said. He however added that he would nevertheless be taking the matter to the Lausanne courts, where the sports world’s highest judicial body meets.

MOC secretary Joe Cassar also denied any wrongdoing and accused the media of ignoring their declarations.

“We’ve always been consistent. People have called for our resignation. But we should have resigned had we not done what we did, because we were working for the MOC’s benefit. Unfortunately it’s been completely misinterpreted in the papers.”

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