Judge insists his rights were violated

Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco once more argued that he did not have a fair hearing and his rights were violated when he was not informed that Parliament had tabled a fresh impeachment motion against him, and when the Commission for the Administration of Justice denied him the right to produces witnesses.

In the court of Madam Justice Lorraine Schembri Orland, Judge Farrugia Sacco took the stand to testify in a Constitutional case he filed against Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who moved the motion, the Attorney General, the CAJ and Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil.

“I was not informed by the Commssion of the new motion, before the Commission confirmed its original decision to impeach me without offering a fair hearing. This violates the principle of natural justice," Farrugia Sacco said.

The second motion was tabled after Anglu Farrugia, as Speaker of the House, ruled that the original motion filed by former Prime Minister Gonzi, back in 2012, was “dead” because it had been filed by a someone who was no longer an MP.

Subsequently, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat tabled a fresh motion, which was handed over to the Commission for investigations. In its reply to the Speaker of the House, the Commission said that since there was prima facie evidence of misbehaviour by the judge, the position of the Commission was the same as that reached on the original motion.

The Commission had previously concluded that Farrugia Sacco breached the judiciary's code of ethics when he stayed on as president of the Malta Olympic Committee and that a case for impeachment had been proven, after Farrugia Sacco entertained a discussion on the resale of the MOC's tickets to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, with two undercover Sunday Times of London reporters posing as ticket agents.

The case was postponed to 25 April.