Malta risks being banned from taking part in the Olympic Games if the Maltese Olympic Committee does not take any action against its president and general secretary following a report naming them in an Olympic ticket investigation.
MOC president Lino Farrugia Sacco and secretary general Joe Cassar were mentioned by the International Olympic Committee’s Ethics Commission among other top Olympic officials who “tarnished the reputation” of the Olympic movement.
The report follows a British newspaper’s sting operation earlier this year alleging the officials were involved in meetings on the supply of Olympic Games tickets to the black market. The other officials are from Greece, Lithuania and Serbia.
The International Olympic Committee has recommended that the MOC takes disciplinary action against the two officials. If no action is taken this could have dire consequences, including the possibility that Malta could be “banned from the Olympic Games”, sources told The Malta Independent online.
The sources said that Malta could also face being banned from participating in the Mediterranean Games and the Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE), since the two fall under the IOC umbrella.
The IOC has called for the four national Olympic committees to take “appropriate measures” against their officials or face further action, such as withdrawing accreditation for Olympic meetings and events. This is due to the fact that the IOC ethics rules allow it to directly sanction National Olympic Committees but not individuals.
In the light of the newspaper report, the IOC opened a high-level investigation into allegations that authorised representatives in more than 50 countries were involved in selling Olympic Games tickets on the black market.
The IOC ethics commission conclusion says that Mr Cassar helped the journalists show that “those who work with (the sports world) are prepared to violate the rules,” while Mr Farrugia Sacco, who serves as a judge, allowed the journalists to “prove their point”.
The Commission observed that, by Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco agreeing to take part, alongside the NOC Secretary General in a discussion concerning the ATR (authorized ticket reseller) contract for the Games in Sochi, when it was apparent that his interlocutors seemed to be looking for ways to circumvent the official mechanism, he allowed the journalists to prove their point.
Concluding, the Ethics Commission said it believed that it is up to the IOC to review the entire ticket sales system to ensure that such situations, particularly those involving the ATRs, do not reoccur in the future.
The highest-profile casualty of the sting was against Greek Olympic president Spyros Capralos for having breached the IOC's code of conduct and, due to his privileged position, caused “even greater damage to the Olympic movement”, the Olympic body said.
Mr Capralos was the lead organiser of the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The IOC is considering suspending the ticket sales process for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
The Nationalist Party has in the meantime said that Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco should do the "honourable thing" and resign because his position has become untenable.
The Labour Party has taken a more cautious approach, saying that politics should not interfere in decisions taken by sport organisations.
For a judge to be impeached, a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives is required.