Anyone found guilty of match fixing should be sent to prison, shadow minister Jason Azzopardi said this evening.

In an appeal while speaking on the adjournment in Parliament this evening, Dr Azzopardi also called for fines to be increased and said it was his personal opinion that there should not be probation or conditional discharge in such cases.

The Maltese, he said, could not hoodwink themselves that this problem was prevalent in Italy but not in Malta. He tabled an an Interpol Integrity in Sport weekly media recap, dated May 18, (see pdf link below) which mentions the Maltese under investigation for match fixing in Italy. This, he said, showed that Malta was not immune.

Dr Azzopardi praised Malta Football Association integrity officer Franz Tabone, for working constantly to eradicate this problem, which, he said, was closely linked to organised criminality and which was destroying football.

During his speech, he referred to today's Fifa investigations into its award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups as well as the arrest of seven football officials pending extradition to the US in a separate probe and said President Sepp Blatter must go.

Mr Blatter, who was not named in either investigation, is contesting Fifa's presidential election on Friday.

Dr Azzopardi said that following today's events, Mr Blatter's position was untenable at the very least.

Mr Blatter, he said, even backed Russia for the World Cup in spite of the fighting in Ukraine.