Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1544415
2 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 15 APRIL 2026 NEWS CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Mula explained that Maia had started the match as a substitute and entered in the 38th minute. According to Maia's account to him, Steve Pisani first ap- proached him during the first half and told him to take it easy, while later in the second half Ju- rgen Pisani offered him €2,000. Mula said he spoke to Maia in English, although Maia's Eng- lish was not particularly strong, describing it as broken English that he could still understand. After receiving the informa- tion, he made a report to the po- lice. He also explained that the confidential information had originally come from Michael Valencia, the president of Birkir- kara. Under cross-examination, Mula added that the MFA on- ly took proceedings against the accused after the police had al- ready arraigned him. Maxuell Maia's account Maxuell Maia, who testified with the assistance of an inter- preter, gave the central evidence in the case. He said that while the match was in progress and while he was on the field as a striker, Steve Pisani told him, "Samu don't do [score] any goals today." He said Steve did not of- fer him money. Maia then testified that Jurgen Pisani, who was marking him during the game as a defender, approached him and offered him €2,000 if he did not score. Maia said Pisani asked him repeatedly for an answer, pressing him with "yes or no." According to Maia, this happened three times: once inside the main area of the field and twice outside it. He also told the court that Jurgen covered his mouth while speaking to him. Maia said he never replied. He testified that he was offend- ed not only by the money offer but also by Steve Pisani's words, even though Steve had not of- fered cash. He said Steve had lost his respect. Maia explained that he chose to confront Ste- ve because they had previous- ly played together at Gżira and he had a friendship with him, whereas he had no relationship at all with Jurgen Pisani. Maia also testified Jurgen asked him whether Steve had al- ready spoken to him before then proceeding with the cash offer. When asked why he had not immediately informed a match official, Maia said he wanted first to speak to club president Michael Valencia in order to get direction from him. He had to wait until the end of the match because Valencia was no longer on the bench. It later emerged, and was confirmed by the de- fence, that Valencia had in fact been sent off from the ground. Police investigation and deleted chats Inspector Wayne Rodney Borg gave an overview of the investi- gation that led to the charges. He explained that police had received two separate reports and carried out two separate in- vestigations. On 5 August 2024, both Jurgen Pisani and Steve Pisani were arrested. Borg testified that after police seized the mobile phones of Jur- gen and Steve Pisani, it emerged that their chats relating to the period of the match had been deleted. He noted that, based on Maxwell Maia's version, the WhatsApp conversations be- tween the two players resumed only from the day after the match, which in his view made the deletion suspicious and un- necessary. The inspector also explained that after an initial interview with Maia using an interpreter, he called him in again without an interpreter to test whether he genuinely understood English and whether he had correctly understood what had been said to him during the match. Borg said Maia demonstrated that he understood English well enough and repeated his version in English. Maia also again con- firmed where he had been stand- ing when Jurgen spoke to him and repeated that Jurgen had covered his mouth each time he made the offer. On the basis of this, Borg said, charges were is- sued against Jurgen Pisani. Jurgen Pisani's statements In his police statements, Jur- gen Pisani described himself as a physical education teacher as well as a footballer and youth coach. He said he had been a professional player since around the age of 17 and had played for Pietà, Floriana, Santa Lucia, and Gżira. He denied every allegation. He said Steve Pisani was his friend but insisted they had nev- er spoken about such matters. He denied that anyone had ap- proached him to offer money to Maia and denied speaking to Maia on the pitch in the way alleged. He insisted he always approached matches intending to give one hundred per cent and said he knew nothing about any such wrongdoing. He also said nobody had instructed him to approach a Birkirkara play- er and that he was hurt to find himself accused. In a second statement given on 4 October 2024, he repeated that he had seen nothing unusu- al during the game. He acknowl- edged that Santa Lucia knew it was a must-win match, because anything less than victory meant relegation, and confirmed that he and Steve Pisani were friends. He nevertheless denied that the two had agreed to manipulate the match and again denied of- fering money to any player. When questioned about the deleted WhatsApp chats, how- ever, his explanation became uncertain. He first claimed he sometimes deleted chats be- cause his child used his phone and because there might be vid- eos or content he did not want his child to access. He later suggested the chats may have been deleted because he and Steve might have dis- cussed going out, perhaps to Paceville, if they won, and he did not want his wife knowing where he was going. When pressed further, he even referred to "gentlemen's clubs," though he also said he rarely went out and was usually with his family. He then added that he frequently deleted chats be- cause of storage issues caused by games on the phone. Asked whether he could iden- tify other deleted chats from the same period, he said too much time had passed and he could not remember. The court later said these explanations made little sense and did not satisfac- torily explain why chats from af- ter the match, when Santa Lucia had already been relegated, had also been deleted. Other witnesses Jobsplus evidence, showed that between 3 August 2021 and 3 May 2024 Pisani had been reg- istered as a football player with Santa Lucia Football Club. Michael Valencia, Birkirkara's president also testified that the match had ended in a 2-2 draw. He said that around half an hour after the match, Maia came to him and said in English that two players had spoken to him dur- ing the game and had offered him money not to score. Valen- Court finds defender Jurgen offering a €2,000 bribe to a Birkirkara Jurgen Pisani