MP implies Malta’s top-flight football league has been fixed and winner is known

The winner of this year’s top flight football league is known, Nationalist MP David Agius has suggested as he lamented lack of prosecutions for sport corruption.

The PN sports spokesperson did not name the team but suggested the club hailed from a locality in the electoral district of Labour backbencher Deo Debattista. Debattista was elected from the 1st District, which includes the localities of Valletta, Floriana, Hamrun, Santa Venera, Pieta and Marsa. The clubs from Valletta, Floriana and Hamrun play in Malta's top-flight league.

Agius did not implicate Debattista in wrongdoing but used the reference to the electoral district as a pointer to suggest, which football club would win the league.

The current league leaders are Hamrun Spartans, followed by Floriana and Sliema Wanderers.

The current leaders in the Championship League are Hamrun Spartans with 32 points, followed by Floriana with 29 points and Sliema Wanderers with 28 points.

Agius was speaking in parliament during the Second Reading of amendments to the Sports Governance and Integrity Act to make possible the formation of platforms and entities in the fight against sports corruption. The Opposition is supporting the changes.

When taking the floor, Agius expressed his frustration that despite the law, very few cases of corruption in sport have ever made it to court.

“We need drastic action to address corruption… the people [involved in corruption] are known; people in the field tell you who is going to win the [football] league this year,” Agius lamented.

He then questioned the level of online betting on domestic football games and certain results that were baffling.

However, Agius stopped short of mentioning any names, insisting much more had to be done to tackle sport corruption.

'People are known'

Reacting to Agius’s comments, Labour MP Carmelo Abela noted that saying ‘people are known’ is not enough because proof is required for prosecutions to take place.

“We also need people to come forward with proof. It is everyone’s responsibility and obligation to report any wrongdoing or knowledge of wrongdoing so that the fight against sport corruption can succeed,” Abela said.

Opposition MP Adrian Delia, who was once president of top-flight football club Birkirkara FC, described sport corruption as a massive wound in Maltese sports.

“We hear about perverse results and a lot of hearsay about corruption… we have to realise how big the problem is because if we do not, we won’t be able to provide the right solutions to fight this phenomenon,” Delia said, adding the online betting industry has changed the dynamic of corruption in sports.

Delia said the online betting black market, mostly based in Asia, saw more than €50 million played on Maltese leagues from the top flight to the bottom leagues, including youth football.

He did not provide the source of his information but an Italian police investigation named Dirty Soccer a few years ago that implicated Maltese fixers with Italian mafia betting syndicates had established links to unregistered betting companies based in south east Asia.

“The nature of match-fixing has changed with the onset of online betting sites since the people fixing the match do not necessarily have a link to any of the clubs,” Delia said.

He urged law enforcement agencies to upgrade their investigative tools and called for more resources to be given to the police.

“From what we hear, we know corruption is a festering wound. We know the fight is being lost because there are no results to show for the action. As far as I know there are no known cases of people involved in match fixing rings to be charged and convicted in court,” Delia said, adding a deeper discussion was required to tackle sport corruption.

Introducing the amendments, Sports Minister Clifton Grima said it was government’s resolve to fight corruption in sports. He added that this resolve had to be accompanied by education on the values of sports to foster an environment that champions integrity.

Parliament is debating several changes to the law, including amendments to anti-doping legislation. The Second Reading debate will continue in another sitting.

Correction: An earlier version of this report stated that Agius was refering to Minister Clifton Grima when identifying the electoral districts from where the purported league winner hails. He was addressing Labour MP Deo Debattista and not the minister.