MP takes aim at ‘mortal sin inside the House’ in sports corruption debate

A long awaited bill to harshen penalties on corruption in sports was the stage for a hard-hitting speech by Democratic MP Godfrey Farrugia against the state of governance in Malta.

Farrugia, a former Labour minister, said the sports corruption bill was a hard sell from a government that was itself plagued by problems of corruption, clientelism, and where the police force does not investigate wrongdoers equally.

“When a culture of corruption and the ‘anything goes’ attitude is allowed to flourish, how can we even think of disciplining the public or encourage a civic sense of pride that helps us improve ourselves?”

He was even critical of both sides of the House for failing to appoint a Commissioner for Standards in Public Life. “I tell the PM, who is deaf to criticism, and the Opposition leader, that the have said nothing yet of the commissioner for standards in public life, who has not yet even started this job. The example has to be set right here…

“For there is mortal sin inside this House, and the sins down at the football ground are merely venial ones,” Farrugia said. “If corruption continues to resign, it will be chaos.”

The bill will address a 1976 law by harshening penalties on match-fixing, extending Maltese jurisdiction on persons implicated in corruption, while also offering protection to whistleblowers who speak out against corruption.