Darmanin Demajo says he objected to questionable contract signed with Bayern

‘I am saying that when he was president of the MFA, Joe Mifsud misappropriated money that should have bee distributed to local clubs,’ Norman Darmanin Demajo tells court

Incumbent Malta Football Association president Norman Darmanin Demajo has told a court that he had been informed of allegations of misappropriation of funds from UEFA by former MFA president Joe Mifsud, but chose to ignore them. 
The funds in question were originally intended to be distributed amongst local football clubs. 


Cross examined by Lawyer Paul Lia, Darmanin Demajo said that he had written to the MFA board of inquiry in December 2000 asking it to investigate his claims.

Eight years later, in December 2008, hurt by Joe Mifsud’s televised allegations that Darmanin Demajo was doing a lot of damage to the MFA, he repeated his request for an investigation.

“I did not file a police report. I understand that the accusation of misappropriation is a criminal offence but I did not give it much importance. I did not say that Mifsud took the money for himself. I am saying that when he was president of the MFA he misappropriated money that was to be distributed to local clubs,” said Darmanin Demajo, adding that it is possible that Mifsud might not have taken them for his personal use.

An investigation was carried out during which Mifsud had admitted to misappropriated the funds from UEFA.

“UEFA had made it clear that the entire amount was to be distributed to clubs. For five or six years, MFA decided to deduct an amount and keep for itself. After my second report, in 2008, the MFA stopped doing this and started distributing all the money to clubs.”


He claimed to have objected, when he was a treasurer, to a contract with Bayern Munich whereby the German football team would come to play a game in Malta and where they would pay $250,000 to Joe Mifsud. The contract was a photocopy and had been obscured with correction fluid and the amount written in biro.

“I found it unacceptable, as the contract was not an original and the amount was written in pen. Furthermore, the contract had been declared five months after it was signed.

“In 2000, after my letter to MFA, Joe Mifsud instead of ordering an investigation, went before the Extraordinary General Meeting of the MFA and asked for a vote of confidence.”

Some two years after he resigned his post, the story broke on international news media, where it was alleged that the amount pocketed by the MFA was $300,000 and that the money was deposited in a trust account.

Darmanin Demajo said that he had been contacted by Andrew Jennings, presenter of the BBC's investigative journalism programme "Panorama" and had told him what he knew. 

Exhibiting a report by the News of the World which was used in the BBC programme, Lia repeatedly asked Darmanin Demajo if he had been in any way involved in the formulation of the report.

Darmanin Demajo could not recall the News of the World article, as he had then been contacted by many journalists.

The case will resume in January.