Athletes and club officials guilty of sport corruption may face up to five years in prison and interdiction from sporting events, a proposed law suggests.
The penalties, which include a hefty fine running into thousands of euros, is harsher than what existing laws envisage.
For the first time, the proposed law imposes harsher penalties for club and match officials, athletes, including those who have retired, and individuals with no direct connection to a sporting organisation but who stand to benefit from corruption. The law also comes down hard on public officers, staff members of gaming operators and employees of national federations.
The draft law was presented last week by the Attorney General to the anti-corruption task force, led by the Malta Football Association. The task force brings together representatives of the government, the Opposition, the police, the Malta Gaming Authority and the MFA.
Existing legislation dealing with corruption in sports dates back to the 1970s and does not adequately cater for modern-day corruption, which fixes games to capitalise on online betting. Proceeds from this practice have been reported to run into the hundreds of thousands of euros per game.
The proposed legislation suggests a clearer definition of jurisdiction, making it possible for criminal action to be taken against anyone if the offence directly or indirectly impacts a Maltese sporting event.
The task force was set up in January 2015 by the MFA to combat football match-fixing and eventually roped in various stakeholders, including the government and the Opposition.
Legislation on corruption in sports dates to the 1970s
Legislation dealing with sport corruption had long been deemed inadequate in the face of growing online betting.
In 2013 alone, legal bets on local football ran between €50 and €70 million. The staggering figure is based on statistics gathered by Sportradar, the Swiss company engaged by the MFA to collect data on betting in football.
However, it is widely acknowledged that millions of euros more may be wagered with unregulated betting companies based mostly in Asia.
This is a fact recognised by Sport Parliamentary Secretary Chris Agius, who yesterday said corruption in sports left no evidence, making it complex to deal with. “We believe we must have the rules which are strict and can serve as a bigger deterrent because we are dealing with organised crime,” he said.
Mr Agius said it was his wish to see the Bill become law “very shortly”. MFA general secretary Angelo Chetcuti said match-fixing was ruining the game and the association had adopted a tough stand on the matter.
Without entering into the merits of the Bill, he said it answered many issues raised by the MFA. “It is a work in progress and may be amended further, but at some point, it will no longer be in the remit of the task force and will have to be taken up by the government.”
Dr Chetcuti said the improved legislation was an important step forward but should not be the end-all. “The law is just a tool, and eventually, it will boil down to implementation.”
Only yesterday, the team manager of Pembroke FC was charged in court with attempting to bribe Mosta FC players ahead of the weekend clash between the teams (see page 2).
Magistrate Joe Mifsud denied the manager bail. He observed that match-fixing damaged the social, educational and cultural values reflected by sports.
“It’s like cancer at the heart of football,” he said.
kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com