Two football players charged with bribery

A court ordered two Żurrieq FC players to stay away from the game until their case was decided after they pleaded not guilty to bribing other players.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke granted them bail on condition they do not attend any activity connected in any way to football other than "watching the game on TV".

Jeffrey Camilleri, 24, denied trying to bribe Sta Luċija player Brian Chetcuti right before a decider between the two teams on May 24.

A promotion was at stake for the teams. With a 2-2 draw at the final whistle, Żurrieq went on to win on penalties and move up to the second division.

Josef Briffa, 22, denied trying to bribe another Sta Luċija player, Melvin Agius, before the same game. During submissions on bail, Police Inspector Angelo Gafà argued that if the court were to grant bail the conditions should be strict enough to ensure there was no tampering with evidence.

The charges come in the wake of a series of bribery cases in Maltese football. In April, one of Malta's top referees, Joe Attard, and former Premier league coach Ilir Pelinku were charged with trying to bribe Marsaxlokk goalkeeper Saviour Darmanin in a UEFA cup match.

In March, referee Pierre Saliba from Ħamrun was handed a two-year suspended sentence after he admitted to attempting to fix a decisive match for one of the top six spots in the championship pool.

He was the second referee to be suspended by the MFA after Mr Attard.

Earlier the same month, Marsaxlokk's assistant coach Peter Hartshorne and player Claude Mattocks admitted offering a bribe to Msida St Joseph goalkeeper Matthew Camilleri, who declined it.

And last year, in December, two players of Division One club St George's, Andrea Gatt and Lawrence Mizzi, were handed suspended sentences for bribery while Vittoriosa Stars vice president Manwel Ancillieri is facing court proceedings on a similar charge.

A court heard last Monday how the foreign media reported that money paid to the Malta Football Association for a match against Bayern Munich in 2000 did not go into the association's account.

The evidence was heard in a libel suit filed by MFA president Joe Mifsud over corruption claims made against him by MFA treasurer Norman Darmanin Demajo.

Lawyers Franco Debono, Marion Camilleri and Charmaine Cherrett appeared for the two Żurrieq players.