Judge Lino Farrugia Sacco died on Sunday, aged 72.

The death of the former Maltese Olympic Committee president was announced by Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg in a Facebook post.

Borg had worked with Farrugia Sacco when the latter was chairman of the Lands Authority.

His appointment had come in 2017, after the Commission for the Administration of Justice had earlier twice recommended his impeachment on accusations of breaching the judiciary’s code of ethics.

The commission, prima facie, had ruled that the judge was guilty of misbehaviour for ignoring its direction to step down from the post of president of the MOC, a post he held between 1996 and 2013.

Former prime ministers Lawrence Gonzi and Joseph Muscat both filed impeachment motions against him in 2012 and 2014 but both fell through when the judge retired in August 2014.

Farrugia Sacco worked as a lawyer for seven years and was a magistrate for 16 years before being appointed judge in 1997.

 

The Maltese Olympic Committee also expressed its condolences.

Farrugia Sacco held the post of President of the Malta Tennis Federation, Treasurer of the European Tennis Association and Chairman of the Men’s Committee of the Association [1996 – 1999].

He was also president of the Malta Table Tennis Association between 2015 and 2019.

He was also Chairman of the Audit Committee of the European Olympic Committees, Executive Board Member of the Mediterranean Games, and Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the Anti-Doping Commission of the Mediterranean Games.

He also served as an arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration of Sports in Lausanne.