IOC director says judge ‘did not tarnish’ reputation of Olympic Games

A judge facing a motion for impeachment over his alleged conduct as the head of the Malta Olympic Committee, has presented the Maltese courts with a statement from the International Olympic Committee's director-general that states he did not tarnish the reputation of the Games.

Lino Farrugia Sacco is under inquiry by the Commission for the Administration of Justice after being implicated in a sting by the Sunday Times of London in which undercover reporters offered a €60,000 fee for rights to the tickets of the Sochi winter Games.

The impeachment motion presented by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is also based on his having retained the role of president of the MOC, when this is in breach of the judiciary's code of ethics.

Farrugia Sacco has sued The Times for defamation for implicating him in "widespread corruption" after it quoted the Sunday Times of London's report of the undercover sting.

Now the judge has presented the courts with a statement from IOC director-general Christophe De Kepper, who says that the IOC's ethics commission's findings into the case "did not have the intention to impair or otherwise harm the reputation and honour" of the MOC president.

"No sanctions whatsoever have been imposed by the IOC on Mr Lino Farrugia Sacco, president of the MOC, nor was he censored or reprimanded in any way. In particular, the IOC did not accuse or find guilty Mr Lino Farrugia Sacco of corruption or any other offence of misconduct. The recommendations issued by the IOC ethics commission did not mention that Mr Lino Farrugia Sacco has tarnished the reputation of the Olympic Movement," the statement reads.

Farrugia Sacco has not sued the Sunday Times of London for defamation, and instead claims it was The Times - which reported the London newspaper's report - that implicated him in "widespread corruption".

The IOC's ethics commission's own review of the case states that Farrugia Sacco "allowed the journalists to prove their point" in a discussion on the authorised ticket reselling for the Sochi games.

But MOC secretary-general Joe Cassar was declared to have "helped to prove the point being made by the journalists, namely that the sports world and those who work with it are prepared to violate the rules".

The ethics commission said that "as a result, Cassar helped the reputation of the Olympic Movement to be tarnished".

Farrugia Sacco has also filed a constitutional case after the Commission for the Administration of Justice threw out his request to have members Reuben Balzan and judge Victor Caruana Colombo abstain from proceedings.

The judge - whose defence counsel includes his son David Farrugia Sacco, a Labour candidate for the elections - said he has no doubt that the Prime Minister's decision to start the impeachment process is politically loaded.

He has requested the recusal of Caruana Colombo because he is appointed to the watchdog by the Prime Minister; and that of Chamber of Advocates president Reuben Balzan, who served as an electoral commissioner for the PN during the deputy leadership election and who Farrugia Sacco says has "a close affiliation with PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil, who publicly condemned him over this case with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi".

Balzan is also a managing partner in the law firm headed by foreign minister Francis Zammit Dimech, who was part of the Cabinet that voted on the motion to have him impeached, the judge said.

Farrugia Sacco also said that Attorney General Peter Grech declared his intention not to abstain without answering a question from his defence lawyer on whether he had been consulted by the Prime Minister on the impeachment process.

The commission's president, President of the Republic George Abela, has abstained from proceedings because he had represented Farrugia Sacco back in 2007 as a lawyer, when the same commission led an inquiry into whether the judge breached the judiciary's code of ethics by occupying the post of MOC president.