Ombudsman Joseph Said Pullicino was yesterday accused by the justice commission of “breaking the law” after expressing an opinion on a case involving a judge.

In a letter circulated to the media, the Commission for the Administration of Justice said the Ombudsman had gone beyond his remit when he asked for the judge to be relieved of his duties.

The commission took umbrage at Dr Said Pullicino’s letter, noting that the Ombudsman Act did not apply to the judiciary or the commission.

This precluded the Ombudsman from giving an opinion on anything involving the judiciary, the commission added.

However, Dr Said Pullicino said he disagreed with the commission’s legal interpretation. “I am convinced that the interpretation I gave in my letter to the President was correct, valid and sustainable,” he said.

Dr Said Pullicino, a former chief justice, added that his opinion was given in “the best interest of the administration of justice”. He said did not breach limitations imposed on him by the Ombudsman Act.

However, he said it was not right for two constitutional authorities to be at loggerheads.

“It is with deference to the superior authortity of his excellency the President of Malta, who I understand agreed with the content of your letter, that I will stop commenting on this sorrowful case,” Dr Said Pullicino said.

The Ombudsman expressed the opinion after the IOC’s ethics body rapped Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco and Joe Cassar ­– the president and general secretary of the MOC – for engaging in a conversation with undercover journalists posing as ticket agents looking to circumvent the official sales mechanism for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.