Football corruption should be reported to the police, the Malta Football Association is insisting in its reaction to reports of a China link to match-fixing in domestic leagues.
The MFA was asked to react to a story carried by The Sunday Times of Malta last week that lifted the lid on a match-fixing ring run by the Maltese intermediary of a Chinese syndicate.
The report quoted a former president of a top-flight club, who preferred to remain anonymous, spilling the beans on a racket he said involved certain club officials, players and well known criminals.
But the MFA spokesman expressed surprise over the decision by this newspaper’s source to speak to the media rather than go to the police.
“The MFA cannot understand why the ex-president of a premier league club preferred to divulge ‘knowledge’ of a criminal ring surrounding Maltese football to the media, rather than adhere to his obligations under the Prevention of Corruption (Players) Act and report such knowledge of criminal activities to the police, as he is bound to do by law,” the spokesman said.
The testimony was the second in as many months by former club officials who approached this newspaper with information on the system used to fix matches.
Large amounts of money are being gambled on rigged games. The betting is done through the intermediary with online betting companies based in south east Asia. Lucrative returns ensure that match fixers bribe players with good money to commit ‘mistakes’ during the games.
The MFA spokesman reiterated the association’s commitment to fight “any form of manipulation of football matches” but was critical of the former president’s chosen course of action.
“The chosen course of action [going to the media not the police] does no good to the fight against match-fixing and has merely caused unwarranted harm to Maltese football. This is something the MFA just cannot accept,” he said, urging the source and this newspaper to “help” the association and the police combat football corruption.
The source had told this newspaper it was only the police who could break this network using phone tapping and tracking the wealth of individuals known to gravitate in these circles.
kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com