A Gżira United footballer was given a four-month jail term suspended for a year after he admitted to bribing a Sta Lucia FC player before a match between the two teams.

Clyde Grech was also fined €500 when he pleaded guilty to phoning Anthony Brignoli, a player with Sta Lucia, and offering to pay him to perform badly during a match on December 8, 2008.

Mr Brignoli did not accept the bribe and Mr Grech ended up in court charged with bribery.

Recently, corruption in Maltese football was lifted into the spotlight with a number of high profile and unrelated court cases involving players, club officials and referees.

In the middle of last month, 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 local championship pool.

Mr Saliba was the second referee to be suspended by the MFA after the suspension of 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.

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 currently facing court proceedings on a similar charge.

In yesterday's case, Police Inspector Angelo Gafà prosecuted while lawyer Edward Zammit Lewis represented the accused.