Giovanni Bonello, judge emeritus and head of the justice reform commission, says that political consensus could have saved the original impeachment motion against Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco.

 “The old doctrine was that all motions pending before the House lapse with a change in government, so in principle it would seem that the motion may have lapsed. The fact that it has lapsed does not mean that it cannot be revived, particularly if there is agreement on both sides. Everything can be done, nothing is set in stone,” Dr Bonello told The Malta Independent prior to the Speaker’s ruling on Tuesday.

Dr Bonello said that he has not studied the issue in detail, as “it is not something that comes up every day.

“It is a British parliamentary convention that Parliament does not hand over old business when a new legislature begins. That is the rule, but there may well be exceptions.”

On Tuesday, Speaker of the House Anglu Farrugia ruled that the original motion put forward by then prime minister Lawrence Gonzi is ‘dead’.

The government then issued a press release at 10pm saying that a new impeachment notice against the judge had been filed.

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil accused the government of turning the judge’s impeachment into a “farce,” and letting him get off “scot free”.

The judge is set to retire in August this year, meaning that he will have effectively survived two impeachment motions.

The original impeachment came about after Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco refused to resign from his post as president of the Malta Olympics Committee in 2008. His holding on to the post was deemed to be in breach of the judges’ code of ethics, the Commission for the Administration of Justice ruled.

Farrugia Sacco could have challenged impeachment based on invalid motion – OPM spokesman

If the government was really dragging its feet in the Judge Farrugia Sacco impeachment case it would not have presented a new motion on the same day the old one was declared null and void, OPM spokesman Kurt Farrugia told this paper yesterday.

Mr Farrugia was asked to comment on claims by the PN that the government is lengthening the process to let the judge retire in August. In fact the PN yesterday was so bold as to state that the new proceedings will drag on until after the judge retires.

Mr Farrugia pointed out that the decision to declare the Gonzi motion invalid was taken by Speaker of the House Anglu Farrugia, and not the government.

“If we had kept the original motion we would have risked facing court action by the judge in the future, in Malta or abroad, and the decision could be declared null on the grounds that the motion was not valid,” said the spokesman, insisting that by presenting a new impeachment motion the government was following the legally correct “fool proof” method.

Mr Farrugia also insisted that the PL had always been consistent on the matter. “Dr Muscat always promised to support the impeachment of Judge Farrugia Sacco and he kept his promise by presenting a new motion after the old one was declared to be invalid.”

PN says Farrugia Sacco given time to retire

But the PN yesterday insisted that the government had become an accomplice to Judge Farrugia Sacco and had given him time to retire with the decision to start the proceedings against him from scratch. In a statement the PN said that “this decision breaks Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s promise to follow and act upon the decision of the Commission for the Administration of Justice. The Prime Minister and the PL have become accomplices to Lino Farrugia Sacco in his incorrect behaviour.”

The PN said that the PL’s insistence to not follow the same procedures used in the past “clearly proves that the PM and the PL are ready to do anything to save the judge, whose son was a PL election candidate.”

“The PM and the PL know very well that after a new motion was presented the whole process has to start from scratch. This is not in the best interest of the administration of justice and will further diminish the public’s respect and trust in the judiciary. Joseph Muscat did not find the political courage to do what is right and support the impeachment of Judge Farrugia Sacco. The Labour Government chose Farrugia Sacco instead of the correct administration of justice. This is a blow to all those who believe in justice.”