Allegations by Labour’s former deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia about Magistrate Audrey Demicoli are being investigated by the Commission for the Administration of Justice, The Times has learnt.

Dr Farrugia was forced to resign last week after accusing Magistrate Demicoli of political bias during a political speech.

The former PL deputy leader’s comments came after an Appeals Court overturned a decision by Magistrate Demicoli to acquit a restaurateur of threatening to sack an employee for not voting for the PN. On appeal, the restaurateur was fined €800.

Speaking at a party activity in Rabat, Dr Farrugia did not name the magistrate but referred to the judgment.

“Without saying who her (the magistrate’s) father is or explaining his role in the machinery and strategy of the Nationalist Party, the magistrate acquitted this contractor,” he said.

“I spoke in Parliament and said that a judgment has to be fair and according to law. This is the responsibility of every member of the judiciary. I insisted on an appeal because we cannot go for another election and have this abuse,” he said.

Magistrate Demicoli’s father, Saviour, has been a PN activist for several years and ran the party’s organising committee in the 1970s and 1980s. A former teacher, Mr Demicoli also represented the party on the Birkirkara council.

The Commission for the Administration of Justice is also investigating Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco in light of an impeachment motion filed by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

The impeachment motion came in the wake of an international investigation by the International Olympic Committee’s ethics commission into Olympic ticket sales.

Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco is also president of the Maltese Olympic Committee despite a directive from the Commission for the Administration of Justice stating holding such a position is in conflict with the judiciary’s code of ethics.

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