Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco yesterday slammed an international report on ticket sales allegations in which Malta Olympic Committee general secretary, Joseph Cassar, was censured.
The judge made the comments while being cross examined in a criminal libel case he instituted against Times of Malta journalist Chris Peregin and former editor Ray Bugeja after this newspaper carried an article based upon a report that appeared a day earlier in The Sunday Times of London.
Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco, who has just relinquished his post of MOC president, and Mr Cassar were mentioned by the International Olympic Committee in a probe by its Ethics Commission over the sale of Olympic games tickets.
The investigation had started after a probe by undercover reporters of The Sunday Times of London, who posed as ticket agents and secretly recorded meetings they had.
Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco, who had been at the helm of the MOC since 1999, faces an impeachment motion over the allegations.
He said the report by the Ethics Commission was “a complete travesty of justice” and described the procedures as “obscene”.
Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco said that although he disagreed with the way that the Olympic Committee had conducted their investigative proceedings, once they had found Mr Cassar guilty of wrong doing, the MOC reprimanded Mr Cassar for what happened.
Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco said although Mr Cassar had been allowed to testify before the Ethics Committee he had been refused access to the transcripts of a video recorded meeting with the journalists and was not allowed to cross-examine them.
When asked by lawyer Stefan Frendo, for Times of Malta, whether he had also initiated libel proceedings against The Sunday Times of London, the judge said that he did not, adding that the law allowed him to do so.
Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco said that what had been reproduced by the Times of Malta did not reflect what had appeared in the British press.
He noted that the British paper had only mentioned him and Mr Cassar in a small part of the article whereas Times of Malta had said he had featured in the report.