Opposition calls for ‘urgent’ meeting to discuss Farrugia Sacco's impeachment

PN whip David Agius has asked the Speaker of the House Anglu Farrugia to convene an "urgent meeting" of the House Business Committee to discuss how Parliament should proceed with the impeachment motion against Judge Lino Farrugia Sacco.

Writing on his twitter account, Agius said that this morning he asked the Speaker to hold an urgent meeting.

This morning I asked Mr Speaker to hold an urgent meeting of the House Business Committee re way forward re Impeachment Case. — David AGIUS (@davidagiusmp) February 13, 2014

Earlier this week, the Commission for the Administration of Justice wrote to the Speaker, saying that its decision in the impeachment motion filed back in December 2012 against judge Lino Farrugia Sacco, still applied to a new impeachment motion presented last week by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

The unexpected move has done away with the need to hold a new inquiry into the original impeachment request filed by the prime minister Lawrence Gonzi.

Parliamemtary secretary for justice Owen Bonnici has declared that the CAJ's letter will be forwarded to the House Business Committee so that MPs can decide on the way forward to debate the impeachment motion.

Farrugia Sacco was found to have misbehaved by the CAJ in January 2014 for retaining his post as Malta Olympic Committee president, in breach of the judges' code of ethics.

But the Speaker last week ruled that the 2012 motion was no longer valid since its proponent, Lawrence Gonzi, was no longer an MP.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat proceeded to file a new impeachment motion, a move which would involve a repeat of the whole process, but the Opposition protested that the investigation would not be finalised in time before the judge retires in August.

The Commission reconfirmed the findings of its original report - which found that although Farrugia Sacco was not involved in any irregularities in the sale of tickets for the Olympic Games, there was a prima facie case of misbehaviour for having stayed on in the post and attracting disrespect for the judiciary.

Farrugia Sacco was filmed by undercover reporters posing as ticket agents, discussing ways of reselling Sochi Winter Olympics tickets, prompting an investigation by the International Olympic Commission's ethics commission. The ethics commission found the MOC's secretary-general Joseph Cassar had "tarnished the Games", but found on wrongdoing on Farrugia Sacco's part.

The Nationalist Party said that it now expected the motion for Farrugia Sacco's impeachment to be discussed immediately.