The Commission for the Administration of Justice is unlikely to reach a decision on the impeachment of Judge Lino Farrugia Sacco before Parliament is dissolved on Monday, sources have told The Times.
This means that unless the matter is pushed into the next legislature, Parliament could be convened to decide on the judge’s fate in the middle of the election campaign.
The Commission has been holding hearings on the case since December 19 but is nowhere near a decision, sources told The Times.
The proceedings were triggered by an impeachment motion filed by the Prime Minister in the wake of a report by the ethics board of the International Olympic Committee, which rapped Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco, as President of the Maltese Olympic Committee, over the sale of Olympics tickets.
The IOC had launched a probe, which also involved the MOC’s general secretary Joe Cassar, following an investigation by reporters from The Sunday Times of London who posed as ticket agents.
According to the law, the Commission should establish if there is a prima facie case.
If it decides that there is no case, the impeachment motion will fall, but in the case of a positive decision it will be up to Parliament to debate and vote on the motion. It would need the support of a two-thirds majority of the House to be carried.
The Prime Minister has already announced he is prepared to call an extraordinary session of Parliament should the Commission not come to a decision before Parliament is dissolved on Monday. The Constitution allows for this possibility.
Opposition leader Joseph Muscat has said he will abide by the conclusions of the Commission.
President George Abela, who heads the Commission, has abstained from chairing the proceedings as he had defended Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco when the latter faced the Commission seven years ago over his dual role as judge and MOC president.
Eventually, the Commission had publicly censured the judge in 2008 and called for his immediate resignation from President of the MOC.
But Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco held on to his position and even contested successfully for the same post in 2009.