Opposition MP wants mandatory jail time for match-fixers

A prison sentence should be mandatory for people found guilty of match-fixing, shadow justice minister Jason Azzopardi said.

Speaking in his parliamentary adjournment, Azzopardi also called for the harshening of fines for guilty match-fixers and for children to be educated against match-fixing from an early age.

“Italy is facing a football match-fixing plague, and we cannot elude ourselves that such practices don’t also take place in Malta,” Azzopardi said, while praising the Malta Football Association’s integrity officer Franz Tabone for his “relentless battle against a plague that is intiminately tied up with organised crime”.

He referred to Interpol’s most recent match-fixing newsletter that highlighted a recent Italian investigation into former Msida St Joseph vice-president Robert Farrugia. In a phonecall, Farrugia allegedly told Qormi FC’s former technical director Felice Bellini that Chinese gamblers had threatened to kill his brother.

Azzopardi also called for FIFA prsident Sepp Blatter to resign in the wake of today’s indictment of several FIFA officials on corruption charges.

“His position is no longer tenable,” Azzopardi said.