Germans wanted to give Mifsud 1 million Swiss francs for ice hockey deal: new documents

Documents seen by the reputable German news magazine Der Spiegel and the newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, have uncovered a request by the former Malta Football President Joe Mifsud for a million Swiss francs for his consultancy on an ice hockey world championship.

The document from 4, March 1998, seen by MaltaToday, suggests that Mifsud, then a member of the FIFA executive committee, was slated to be paid the CHF1 million “net and in cash” for consultancy and advice to the sports management company CWL, over the ice hockey world championship.

The invoice states that the services – market research and advice, as well as support on the sale of rights – are from a contract dated 19 November, 1997. The amount was “due in cash on August 15 1998”.

An internal company document, eight days later, would claim to show that this payment had little to do with the IIHF championship: written by CWL boss Cesar W. Luthi, he told his accounting department, “strictly confidential”… “Note: Payment of the sum only after the FIFA congress in the summer and after OK of GN” – GN being Gunther Netzer, former West Germany World Cup champion from 1972, and managing director of the sports marketing firm CWL.

The German press has long questioned the role that CWL and other German officials played in ensuring the FIFA executive committee, of which Mifsud was a member, voted to have Germany host the 2006 World Cup.

In a request for comment, Mifsud told MaltaToday he “never had anything to do in any manner whatsoever” with ice hockey tournaments, either as an individual or a lawyer. “Any statement or document claiming otherwise is totally false.”

MaltaToday has not established whether the money was actually paid out to Mifsud. He had been previously targeted by allegations from long-time MFA rival Norman Darmanin Demajo, of pocketing TV rights cash from CWL from a 2003 friendly played by Bayern Munich against the Maltese national squad.

Now the new document trove adds more fuel to the fire, squarely framing the role CWL had in pushing lucrative contracts to people with influence inside the FIFA exco.

In comments to MaltaToday Mifsud once again denied having made any personal financial gain. “Any publication, even if copied from a local or foreign source, disseminating lies and untruths about me, will be deemed to be published in bad faith,” Mifsud said in a threat to MaltaToday after sending the former MFA president questions on the documents.

Many of the suspicions arise from the role that CWL played in advancing handsome consultancies to most members of the FIFA exco, among them the Bayern friendlies for Thailand, Tunisia, Malta as well as Trinidad and Tobago, although useless showcase matches. But there were electors from all of these four countries who decided Germany’s bid, for which CWL ensured absurdly high sums for TV rights.

According to Der Spiegel, the CWL papers are “another strong indication that the World Cup was bought”, with CWL paying money to at least six electors so that their votes go to Germany.

CWL was owned by Leo Kirch, a movie and television mogul who acquired the European rights for the 2002 and 2006 World Cup tournaments.

Der Spiegel described Mifsud as being at the “head of a food chain” since his influence counted for two other exco members’ votes. In 2003, Mifsud was revealed to have signed a contract with CWL in June 2000, counter-signed by Gunther Netzer. The contract was for Bayern Munich to play a friendly match against Malta.

Norman Darmanin Demajo, the contender for the post of president of the MFA back in 2010, revealed documents himself on friendly between Bayern and a Maltese team selection, for which he claimed a sum of money was allegedly paid to influence Mifsud’s vote in favour of the German bid.

Darmanin Demajo claimed that in October 2000, the MFA had received a payment of $250,000 in its account, with Mifsud then producing a contract – which was a ‘certified true copy of the original’ – which however aroused suspicion in the way it was worded. “The contract was signed in Qrendi in June 2000, and amongst other clauses which aroused my suspicion was the one stating that it was imperative that the contract was only to be made available to the top executives of the MFA and the company which negotiated the deal,” Darmanin Demajo had said. “Additionally, the amount stated is in a ‘fill in the blanks’ format with $250,000 written almost as an afterthought.”

Darmanin Demajo insisted that it was written down in the contract that the amount of $250,000 was to be paid into a trust account in the name of Dr Mifsud, and not directly into the MFA’s coffers. He questioned why the amount was deposited into the MFA’s account only in October, when the contract specifically stated that payment was to be made two weeks after the contract was signed on the 1 June, 2000.

In 2017, a court dismissed a libel case filed by Mifsud against former Illum editor Kurt Sansone, and another he filed against Darmanin Demajo, both connected to the international allegations that money Mifsud was paid as MFA president had been routed into a trust fund. Darmanin Demajo, as MFA treasurer, had launched an investigation into allegations of corruption, misappropriation of funds and breach of the MFA statute in contracts signed by Mifsud.