Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco has lost a bid to have two members of the Commission for the Administration of Justice removed  for reasons of conflict of interest while it considers a motion moved by the (former) prime minister for Parliament to consider a motion of impeachment against him.

The impeachment motion was presented to Parliament last December after the judge rejected calls by Dr Gonzi to resign.

Dr Gonzi made his call after Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco was mentioned by the International Olympic Committee, as (then) president of the Maltese Olympic Committee, following a probe into ticket sales. According to the code of ethics of the judiciary, members of the bench cannot occupy posts in other organisations, not even on a voluntary basis.

Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco had filed his case before the First Hall of the Civil Court (Constitutional Jurisdiction) seeking the removal of Judge Victor Caruana Colombo since he had been appointed to the commission by the prime minister himself, and Dr Reuben Balzan, owing to his close connections with Dr Simon Busuttil, who had declared himself in favour of impeachment.

With regard to the objections to Judge Caruana Colombo, the court said that should the argument by Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco be upheld, it could logically be extended to the extreme where no judge could ever be independent when the government was party to a case.

As for Dr Balzan, the Court said no evidence had been presented that Dr Balzan had shown prejudice because of his connections to a politician.

The court also noted that if the Commission for the Administration of Justice found prima facie in favour of the impeachment motion going before Parliament, it would be politicians who would take the final decision. 

Therefore political connections in themselves were not incompatible with procedures for the removal of a judge. Furthermore, Dr Balzan was participating in the deliberations of the Commission with a large number of other members.