Two Maltese brothers involved with football clubs are wanted by the Italian police after a match-fixing investigation uncovered a network of Italian and foreign fraudsters.
Adrian Farrugia, 34, the former Mosta FC team manager, and his brother, Robert Farrugia, 45, a council member of Msida St Joseph, were included in a list of 50 people arrested or wanted by the Italian police for match-fixing. The scam primarily involved matches from the third and fourth tiers of Italian football and those arrested included club presidents, footballers, coaches, officials and financiers who fixed matches to win millions of euros on bets.
According to Rodolfo Ruperti, the head of the Catanzaro police that led the investigation codenamed Dirty Soccer, the Farrugia brothers were not arrested because they were not in Italy.
“It will be up to the [Italian] magistrate to seek their extradition,” Dr Ruperti told Times of Malta yesterday when contacted about the alleged involvement of Maltese nationals in the illegal operation.
He alleged that the Farrugia brothers acted as “financiers” in the match-fixing operations to ensure high returns from betting and that they were also in the process of trying to fix Maltese games too.
Attempts to contact the Farrugia brothers yesterday proved futile.
Felice Bellini, the former Italian director general of Vittoriosa Stars, who also had involvement with Gudja United and Qormi FC in the past, was among those arrested by the Italian police.
When contacted, Mosta FC president George Galea said he was shocked by the news, which he learnt about from the internet.
“Mosta FC has nothing to do with this and Adrian Farrugia’s contract as team manager ended last week as scheduled with the close of the season,” Mr Galea said.
However, he insisted that Mr Farrugia was innocent until proven guilty. “I spoke to him and he denies any involvement.”
It will be up to the magistrate to seek their extradition
Vittoriosa Stars president Erskine Vella said Mr Bellini’s relationship with the club ended with the close of the season.
“I cannot see how this can cast a bad light on our club or Maltese football because this happened in Italy. Bellini was an agent and he sent us players but, this year, he did not come to Malta and we did not have a written contract but everything was done by word of mouth,” Mr Vella said.
Msida St Joseph president Edward Calleja could not be reached.
Malta Football Association integrity officer Franz Tabone said the association was aware of the Italian investigation but pointed out that, for the time being, this was a police matter.
Football sources told Times of Malta the MFA was seeking information from the Italian football federation before deciding what action to take.
The Catanzaro police had started investigating mafia links to a little-known Italian football club, Neapolis, when they came across the widespread illegal betting ring.
Sports fraud under Italian law carries a maximum jail term of nine years. Harsher sentences could await certain individuals accused of aiding and abetting the mafia organisation Ndrangheta.
A key person in the scandal is Fabio Di Lauro, who, according to the investigators, was the sole Italian representative for Italian and international betters who invested and won millions of euros transacted through Turkish, Serbian, Chinese and Italian banks.
Additional reporting: Valhmor Camilleri and Kevin Azzopardi
kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com