President forwards Ombudsman’s letter on Farrugia Sacco to chief justice

President George Abela has forwarded to the Chief Justice a letter from ombudsman Joseph Said Pullicino, who is recommending that Judge Lino Farrugia Sacco is asked to suspend himself, pending an inquiry by the Commission for the Administration of Justice.

Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri is presiding over the CAJ's inquiry into allegations that Farrugia Sacco entertained requests by undercover reporters posing as ticket resellers, as to how skirt International Olympic Committee rules on the sale of the Sochi winter Olympics tickets.

In his letter which he publicised, former chief justice Said Pullicino called on Abela to see that the CAJ uses its moral authority to ensure Farrugia Sacco "is immediately relieved from attending to his judicial duties until the charged levelled against him are finally determined in full respect of his constitutional rights, including that of the presumption of innocence."

Farrguia Sacco has sued Said Pullicino for criminal libel.

The statement was itself already a rare occasion, with Said Pullicino himself stating that the Ombudsman is precluded from making statements on the judiciary.

But the ombudsman said he was not prevented from expressing his opinion "on the effects of such behaviour on the proper administration of justice in the country, all the more so when this concerns actions which are not in any way related to the recognised functions of a Judge... The news in itself, irrespective of any judgement as regards guilt or otherwise, severely undermines trust in the administration of justice."

The decision to have Farrugia Sacco step down pending the inquiry must ultimately be taken by Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri, a member of the CAJ. George Abela, who presides over the CAJ, is not taking cognisance of the case since he had previously acted as Farrugia Sacco's defence counsel when the judge was called before the Commission some years ago to face questioning over his involvement in the Malta Olympic Committee.

Said Pullicino himself wrote that he deemed Farrugia Sacco should "responsibly suspend himself" to be best able to defend himself with the least possible negative effects on the administration of justice. 

On his part Farrugia Sacco said he would be communicating with the Commission for the Administration of Justice, in order to provide the real sequence of events, "and not the malicious interpretations given by certain journalists, and which politicians should respect one of the most important pillars of a democracy being the separation of powers.

"Such pillar exists in order to have any member of the judiciary give his or her judgments, of whatever nature, in accordance with the oath taken, being that of acting without fear and hence not feel intimidated when giving such judgment."

Farrugia Sacco has so far resisted calls to resign by the Prime Minister and the Nationalist Party after the International Olympics Commission's ethics commission found that the judge and president of the Malta Olympics Commission had entertained the requests of two undercover journalists, posing as ticket resellers, as to how to skirt limits on the resale of tickets for the Sochi winter games.

The IOC's ethics commission also found that MOC secretary-general Joe Cassar had "tarnished" the reputation of the Olympics with his involvement in the same talks.

Farrugia Sacco has used his family's own firm - Farrugia Sacco Advocates - to reply to press reports, saying that he will be filing an action to CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sports) the world's highest sports tribunal and in the Courts of Lausanne, Switzerland complaining about the proceedings of the Ethics Commission.

A sitting judge can only be removed by parliamentary impeachment, which requires a two-thirds majority vote.