Commission for the Administration of Justice says Ombudsman's letter was not within his competence

Declarations made by the Ombudsman in a letter to the President are against the law, the Commission for the Administration of Justice said in a letter to Ombudsman Joseph Said Pullicino today. In a reply, the Ombudsman disagreed and said he was convinced that his interpretation of the law in his letter had been "correct, valid and sustainable". In its letter, the Commission referred to Judge Said Pullicino’s letter, in which he called for Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco’s suspension. The Ombudsman, himself a former Chief Justice, said in his letter this should be the procedure until Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco cleared his name over his alleged involvement in a scandal related to the sale of the Sochi Winter Olympic tickets. Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco has since filed a criminal libel suit against the Ombudsman. In its letter to the Ombudsman, the Commission said that the Ombudsman’s Act did not apply to the judiciary and the Commission, so the Ombudsman did not have jurisdiction on the functions, duties and conduct of judges and the Commission and he did not have the power to give an opinion on this. This was solely within the functions of the Commission. This meant that the...