‘Fenech was morally obliged to investigate MFA funds allegations in 2008’ – Darmanin Demajo

Norman Darmanin Demajo, president of the Malta Football Association, has insisted in court that it was ‘morally’ incumbent upon Peter Fenech – the former MFA deputy president – to investigate allegations of financial misappropriation of MFA funds that he addressed to Fenech in a letter in 2008, in his capacity as chairman of the MFA’s board of inquiry.

In a forceful testimony delivered in the court of Magistrate Francesco Depasquale, Darmanin Demajo – who last year faced off a rival bid for the MFA presidency from Fenech – backed a report in MaltaToday that Fenech had not investigated the allegations.

Darmanin Demajo was treasurer of the MFA in 2000 before resigning in protest at the handling of the misappropriation allegations by then president Joe Mifsud.

Fenech has sued MaltaToday for libel over a report on his bid for the presidency in 2010, in which it was said that he did not act on the allegations made by Darmanin Demajo at the MFA council and in public.

“In 2000, I was treasurer of the MFA when these irregularities first came to light, so I wrote to the MFA’s board of inquiry asking them to investigate my allegations,” Darmanin Demajo told the court.

“I also tried to raise the issue during an MFA council meeting in 2000, but I was refused permission to talk by the MFA president, Joe Mifsud, and my microphone was switched off. So I organised a meeting outside the MFA premises, at the Corinthia Hotel, to give me the opportunity to present the facts to the council members, in support of my allegations.

“At the time [in 2000] I felt that as an MFA official I had a duty and a moral obligation to do anything I could to inform the council members of my allegations, despite the council’s decision not to act on my allegations.”

Darmanin Demajo said that a few years later in 2008, MFA president Joe Mifsud appeared as a guest on NET TV’s Replay, during which he stated that ‘Darmanin Demajo was a person who had done Maltese football a lot of harm’.

In response to this declaration, Darmanin Demajo sent a registered letter to Joe Mifsud in November 2008, inviting him to either substantiate his allegations or publicly withdraw his statement.

“In the absence of any action, I informed Joe Mifsud that I would take all the necessary measures to defend my reputation,” Darmanin Demajo told the court, explaining that a month later in December 2008 he sent a registered letter to the General Secretary of the MFA, in which he reiterated the serious allegations against Joe Mifsud over a breach of the MFA statute, abuse of power and misappropriation of funds.

“In accordance with the MFA statute, I asked for my allegations to be heard before the MFA board of inquiry.

“A copy of the letter was also sent by registered mail to Peter Fenech, in his capacity as chairman of the board of inquiry.

“Joe Mifsud and the MFA council of the time – with the minuted exception of Bjorn Vassallo [today MFA general secretary] – decided that rather than forward the letter to the board of inquiry, Mifsud would open a personal libel case against me, which case was eventually filed in January 2009, and is still ongoing today.”

Darmanin Demajo told the court that whilst in 2000 he had done everything he could to inform and alert MFA council members of the allegations, in contrast it was an uncontested fact that in 2008 Fenech did nothing of the sort, even though he was the MFA vice-president and chairman of the MFA board of inquiry.

“As far as I am aware, Fenech did absolutely nothing – he never even tried to contact me to seek more information about the allegations,” Darmanin Demajo said.

Internal audit in 2012

In comments to MaltaToday, Darmanin Demajo said that under his presidency, he took his allegations to a board of internal auditors.

“On 4 September, 2012, under my presidency, the MFA council mandated the board of internal auditors to investigate these allegations, and a report issued on 8 January 2013 confirmed that the MFA had in fact abused UEFA funds in breach of UEFA rules. The MFA has now committed itself to refund the misappropriated funds to the clubs.”

Darmanin Demajo said it was his opinion that Fenech was morally obliged to act on his allegations at the time they were made.

“In life, you need to have the courage to stand up for your values and be counted even if you are not in a position of power to do so – if you propose to stand for a leadership position, you must be prepared to lead from the front, whatever the risk, whatever the cost,” he said, referring to Fenech’s leadership bid in 2013.