Farrugia Sacco: move to impeach me is political

Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco yesterday questioned the validity of the judiciary’s code of ethics and described the impeachment motion against him as “politically motivated”. He was testifying in a constitutional case in which he is demanding that two members of the Commission for the Administration of Justice abstain from hearing the impeachment case. They are Victor Caruana Colombo, a retired judge, and the president of the Chamber of Advocates, Reuben Balzan. The impeachment motion was presented to the commission by the Prime Minister after Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco turned down calls to resign following the findings of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which had mentioned him in connection with a probe over the sale of Olympic tickets. Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco yesterday claimed the judiciary’s code of ethics had been introduced even though several of its members had not agreed with it. “There were a lot of objections from many members of the judiciary on this code of ethics,” he told the court. “It was signed by all, with the exception of Judge Anton Depasquale, only after a lot of pressure exerted by the then Chief Justice, Joseph Said Pullicino.” To back up the...