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€0.90 WEDNESDAY EDITION WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT Editorial - PAGE 11 WEDNESDAY • 29 January 2014 • issue 349 • published every wednesday and sunday Judge's impeachment 'dead' Prime Minister presents new impeachment motion • Speaker of the House says impeachment motion cannot be carried forward to new legislature because proponent, Lawrence Gonzi, is no longer MP MiriaM DaLLi terday ruled that the impeachment motion against Judge Lino Farrugia Sacco was "dead" and would not be carried over to the present legislature. Farrugia's ruling was based on two main arguments: the fact that the MP who presented the impeachment motion – Lawrence Gonzi – was no longer a member of parliament and that the motion was never discussed before parliament dissolved in the previous legislature. "If the House wants to go ahead with the impeachment motion, it needs to table a new motion," Farrugia told the House. But presenting a new motion means that the Commission for the Administration for Justice has to investigate Farrugia Sacco's impeachment motion once again. The original motion had been presented by Gonzi in December 2012, shortly before parliament dissolved. And the decision by the CAJ took a year to be completed. With Farrugia Sacco expected to retire in August 2014, and the parliamentary motion effectively dead, it will be up to the Prime Minister to decide whether he should file a new motion of impeachment. But that would mean that the Commission for the Administration of Justice will have to reopen the investigation; and with that, a whole set of legal machinations: President of the Republic George Abela, who presides over the CAJ, will recuse himself since he had been Farrugia PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD SPEAKER Anglu Farrugia yes- Lino Farrugia Sacco Sacco's lawyer in previous hearings before the CAJ in 2007; and Farrugia Sacco would also ask the law courts to have two CAJ members recused – judge emeritus Victor Caruana Colombo, and Chamber of Advocates' president Reuben Balzan – whom Farrugia Sacco claims cannot be im- partial in his regard. MaltaToday is also informed that the Farrugia Sacco had twice asked the Commission for the Administration of Justice – first after Labour's election in March 2013, and then after the resignation of Lawrence Gonzi as MP – whether the motion could still be considered valid. But the commission steamed ahead with its decision, which confirmed prima facie misbehaviour by the judge when he retained his post as president of the Malta Olympic Committee, in breach of the judiciary's code of ethics; and which opened him up to the questionable meeting in which he was filmed by two undercover Sunday Times of London discussing the resale of Sochi Winter Games tickets. CONTINUES ON PAGE 3 Chetcuti collected money for PL before elections developer Sandro Chetcuti collected donations for the Labour Party prior to the 2013 general elections, MaltaToday can confirm – at one point having entertained the prospect of standing for election on the Labour ticket. The revelation that Chetcuti met developers and other traders at the Labour headquarters has raised serious questions Labour's unrelenting infatuation with big business. Last week, PN organ Il-Mument reported that Chetcuti had met developers at the Labour Party headquarters in a designated room. Chetcuti has denied collecting financial donations for the PL throughout these meetings, but Labour Party chief executive officer Gino Cauchi said that Chetcuti was a party volunteer. Chetcuti, who earlier this year Sandro Chetcuti was acquitted of charges of causing grievous bodily harm to former GRTU director Vince Farrugia, is no stranger to the company of politicians: at one point, he also made donations to the Nationalist Party, apart from donations to Labour. PL chief executive officer Gino Cauchi defended Chetcuti from reports that he was meeting building contractors at the Mile End head- quarters and accepting donations on behalf of the party. "Sandro Chetcuti is a volunteer and holds no specific role within the party. He chose to militate within the PL, as is every individual's right to do. He helps the party on a voluntary basis, such as helping organise certain activities," Cauchi told MaltaToday. CONTINUES ON PAGE 4 Newspaper post CONSTRUCTION