Partit Demokratiku slams Farrugia Sacco’s Lands Authority appointment

Partit Demokratiku said yesterday that it found it very hard to believe that a government “that promised change, meritocracy and transparency has completely lost its way”, in reference to the recent appointment of retired judge Lino Farrugia Sacco to head the newly formed Lands Authority. PD said in a statement that the appointment clearly showed the inability of the current administration to restore faith in our institutions.

“Dr Farrugia Sacco has faced two impeachment motions under two different Prime Ministers. He was also found guilty prima facia by the Commission for the Administration Justice (CAJ). The Lands Department has been at the centre of two scandalous controversies during this administration, that of Café Premier and Strada Zekka. Any hope that this reform would actually create an authority that is independent from Castille was killed when the government appointed the majority of the board and a chairman who is clearly not to be trusted, given his past track record,” the party said.

It added: “Partit Demokratiku is concerned that the authority’s puppet master will be Castille. Partit Demokratiku would like to remind the current administration that when people voted for change in 2013, they did not vote to get more of the same or even worse.”

The party noted that while Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera’s appointment had been rejected by the Judicial Appointments Committee due to ‘her conduct in private life’, the appointment of Dr Farrugia Sacco went ahead, despite the fact that his record in public life is not one to be applauded.

Partit Demokratiku said it “strongly condemns the normalisation of such behaviour and the rewarding of it by handing out such posts to those responsible.

“Trust is the intangible, indispensable element which, together with adequate reform, can jumpstart the much-needed efficiency and result-yielding capacity of our institutions.”