Three judges yesterday cleared the way for Parliament to take a decision on the impeachment of Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco as they dismissed his appeal to have two members of the judiciary watchdog removed.

Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco had lost the initial case to remove Judge Victor Caruana Colombo and lawyer Reuben Balzan from the Commission for the Administration of Justice when hearing his case, citing conflict of interest.

The fact that a retired judge is on the commission adds value to it

The issue revolves around Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco’s decision to remain serving as president of the Malta Olympic Committee despite having been told by the commission in 2007 that it was incompatible with his judicial duties.

Two weeks ago, the Commission said although Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco was not involved in the illicit sale of the winter Olympic Games tickets, which had been the subject of an investigation by The Sunday Times of London, the case itself and the publicity given to it were a direct result of his defiance of a 2007 Commission directive to resign from the Malta Olympic Committee.

In the judgment yesterday, Mr Justice Joseph Micallef, Mr Justice Tonio Mallia and Mr Justice Noel Cuschieri confirmed the decision by the first court not to remove Judge Caruana Colombo and Mr Balzan.

After reviewing the appeal and submissions, the three judges said even if Judge Caruana Colombo had taken part in the drawing up of the code of ethics for the judiciary in 2004, they could not see how this would reflect on his impartiality during the investigation that went ahead following the impeachment motion drawn up by former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi in 2012.

The judges also noted that when Judge Caruana Colombo was involved in the 2007 decision where it was decided that Judge Farrugia Sacco’s judicial capacity and his position in the MOC were incompatible, the discussions were different to current the motion of impeachment.

The first decision dealt with the incompatibility of Judge Farrugia Sacco’s position within the MOC and the second was about his decision to ignore the commission, the judges said.

Judge Caruana Colombo had for many years served as a magistrate and then a judge and thus there were no doubts about his impartiality. But the fact that a retired judge is on the commission adds value to it, they added.

When it came to Dr Balzan, he was not there to serve some political party but he was a member of the commission in his capacity as president of the Chamber of Advocates.

The judges said that contrary to what Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco had argued, he had enough time to prepare his defence as the case before the commission began on January 3, 2012 and the decision was given earlier this month.