An overseas company specialising in the monitoring of betting on football matches alerted the Malta FA in February that certain Premier League games had attracted irregular gambling patterns.
This was revealed by Norman Darmanin Demajo, the MFA president, during a meeting of the association’s council yesterday evening.
Darmanin Demajo said that he received a letter warning him that “betting on a number matches from the local Premier League didn’t make sense”.
The Malta FA president said he received the letter before allegations of match-fixing in connection with Malta’s Euro 2008 qualifier against Norway in 2007 came to light.
Bjorn Vassallo, the MFA CEO, provided a detailed account of the association’s course of action since convicted Croatian fraudster Marijo Cvrtak alleged that he bribed four Malta players to fix the Euro 2008 qualifier in Norway, who won 4-0.
“Marijo Cvrtak testified (in the Bochum district court) that he met one Malta player in his hotel room and another three in a lift,” Vassallo said. “Although the game finished 4-0 in favour of Norway, Cvrtak said he’d have been happier with a 5-0 outcome but was nonetheless satisfied with the result.
“At the time this news appeared in the foreign media, top MFA officials convened to discuss the issue and took steps to anticipate the local press by issuing a statement saying that the association, with the collaboration of the police, had launched an investigation into these claims.
“As Malta had a competitive match (Euro 2012) against Greece a few weeks later, we didn’t want to rush things by initiating internal proceedings but we asked the police to probe the allegations.
“The MFA president had a meeting with the Police Commissioner. We have given the police the list of names and photos of the players in the Malta squad for those qualifiers (Malta played against Bosnia five days after the Norway qualifier), the members of the national team’s staff, officials and media personnel who travelled to Norway.
“Around three weeks ago, the president, another MFA official and myself had a meeting in London with representatives of the betting-monitoring company to learn more about this phenomenon.
“The police told us they were going to contact Europol to obtain transcripts of all the testimony given during the Bochum trial.
“We will have another meeting with the police next week. I can assure everyone that the police and MFA are doing their best to safeguard the integrity of the game.
“The MFA recently received an anonymous letter in which five players were named in connection with the Norway-Malta game. After discussing the matter, we decided to pass the letter to the police.”
Although the warning from the betting-monitoring agency appears to add weight to suggestions that local matches may be the subject of illegal betting, Darmanin Demajo urged caution.
“It looks like people are hurling mud at everyone in football without bringing any shred of evidence,” the MFA head said.
“However, we have to be vigilant as there may be groups of people who are approaching our players to fix games. The company we are working with is also talking to UEFA. We have to do our utmost to eradicate this malaise.”
Darmanin Demajo also made reference to Nationalist MP Jean Pierre Farrugia’s speech about the possibility that local clubs may be generating extra income from illegal gambling.
“They mentioned it in parliament... he (Dr Farrugia) hurled mud at our presidents and it’s not fair. If he knows something, he should pass the information to the police.”
Also yesterday, the council ruled in favour of a motion put forward by St George’s who asked to be granted the right to seek compensation from Vittoriosa Stars (through MFA channels) after a former official of the latter club was found guilty of offering bribes to two St George’s players before a Division One match in December 2008.
The Cospicua club argued that they had acted in the best interests of the sport when they reported the match-fixing attempt but they were also victims as they have lost two players, Andrea Gatt and Lawrence Mizzi, to lifetime bans.
Adrian Casha has been named director of refereeing at the Malta FA. Casha succeeds Patrick Fenech whose five-year term as head of the MFA’s referees department has expired.
PLCSC statement
Last night, the Premier League Clubs Standing Committee (PLCSC) issued a statement in which they categorically denied Dr Farrugia’s allegations that “the presidents of the Premier League clubs were manipulating the results of the competitive matches of their respective teams in order to win bets with the aim of generating income for their clubs”.
“The presidents of the BOV Premier League clubs reiterate that they devote all their time and energy to ensure that the clubs are strong, administratively and financially, and they are disappointed that a Deputy in the highest institution of our country makes these type of allegations without substantiating his claims,” the statement said.