[attach id=304355 size="medium"]Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli[/attach]
Speaker Anġlu Farrugia is tomorrow expected to announce the Commission for the Administration of Justice’s decision related to the future of Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco.
When contacted, the Speaker said he preferred not to comment on the case as he is bound by secrecy over impeachment motions against members of the judiciary.
“I can’t tell you anything and if there’s anything to announce I will do so in Parliament,” he insisted.
However, sources close to the Office of the President, which coordinates the workings of the Commission, yesterday confirmed that the final report on its probe into Farrugia Sacco has been delivered to the Speaker and is expected to be made public tomorrow when Parliament reconvenes after the Christmas recess.
“The commission’s report, which found there are grounds for the impeachment of Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco, has been passed to the Speaker,” the sources said.
“According to the law, it is now up to Dr Farrugia to inform the House of Representatives of the conclusions of the report.
“The Speaker might also opt to put the report on the table of the House.”
The probe began in December 2012 after then prime minister Lawrence Gonzi presented a motion in Parliament when the judge and another Malta Olympic Committee official were rapped by the International Olympic Committee in the wake of an investigation by The Sunday Times of London into irregularities in the sale of Games tickets.
At the time, even though he had been ‘ordered’ by the commission to resign as MOC president in 2008, as this was deemed to be in breach of the code of ethics, Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco insisted he had done nothing wrong and remained in his post.
Despite its own 2008 public warning, the Commission still took more than a year to conclude ‘prima facie’ that the judge had broken the rules and that this was tantamount to misbehaviour.
Following the presentation of the impeachment motion against him, Dr Farrugia Sacco accused Dr Gonzi of “trying to be funny” and continued to preside over court cases.
Following tomorrow’s presentation of the report in Parliament, it will be up to the House of Representatives to continue with hearing the impeachment motion, which can only be approved by a two-thirds majority of MPs.
However, both major political parties represented in Parliament are already on record stating that they will back an impeachment motion if the commission has found there is cause.
When still in Opposition, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had said that Labour would follow the commission’s recommendations, while the Nationalist Party had presented the motion while in government and is therefore expected to back Dr Farrugia Sacco’s removal from the Bench.