Gaetano Spiteri, a 31-year-old footballer, was today fined €500 and given a six month jail term suspended for one year after he was found guilty of bribing another player together with 30-year-old Julian Briffa.
Mr Spiteri and Mr Briffa had attempted to bribe former Sliema Wanderer’s player Steve Bezzina.
Both had been banned by the Malta Football Association from playing football for life but Mr Briffa’s ban had eventually been reduced to one year because he assisted in the investigations. His ban is now over.
Although the court also found Mr Briffa guilty, he was not punished because according to law, whoever gave the police information before people where arraigned in relation to sports corruption would not be punished in spite of being found guilty.