Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/449474
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 21 JANUARY 2015 News '€70 million in legal bets per football season' CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 "The hypocrites circling our football have carried on with their cor- rupt practices, unaffected by the repercussions and the irreparable damage that they have caused to the game. "They are happy enough to be part of a dishonest circle that is steadily destroying our football's image and has turned honest people away from the clubs and stadiums. Apparently we have not managed to strongly impress or alarm the authorities or, even more importantly the law enforc- ers, who have, for their own rea- sons, kept on procrastinating. "They keep avoiding our rep- resentations hoping that all will sort itself out. They are mistaken. Match-fixing, in which some indi- viduals in our football have been meddling for years, has grown to such an extent that the general public considers all our matches to be of a dubious nature." Tabone's report also claims that some football clubs allegedly fi- nance their entire operations through elaborate betting scams. "These clubs finance their en- tire operations by manipulating matches and betting on them, with the winnings going into the club whilst also lining their own pockets. "They are ruthless and unaffect- ed by the harm they have caused people who wish to love and be involved in our football." Speaking on the TV programme 'Replay' earlier this week, MFA secretary Bjorn Vassallo revealed that a whopping average of €70 million is placed in legal bets per season of Maltese football – €50 million on Premier League games and €20 million on First Division games. However, MFA president Nor- man Darmanin Demajo down- played concerns that those sta- tistics could ref lect the level of match-fixing. "These figures incorporate bets placed both in Malta and abroad," Darmanin Demajo told MaltaTo- day. "People bet on everything, and the more lists are out there the more they will bet. This statis- tic just puts it into perspective." Despite it being such a seeming- ly widespread practice, the police have not yet received any reports pertaining to alleged corruption throughout the ongoing football season. This was confirmed in Parliament on Monday by Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela in response to a parliamentary question by Opposition MP Rob- ert Cutajar. However, speaking to MaltaTo- day, Michael Cassar pointed out that the police had investigated around 33 football corruption cases in 2013, some of which led to court convictions. Opposition MP calls for fight against match-fixing In an impassioned speech in par- liament yesterday, Opposition MP David Agius called for a united stand against football corruption. "Those who want to investigate money laundering know where to start," Agius said in the parlia- mentary debate on money laun- dering. "A journalist who recently spread awareness about the prev- alence of match-fixing through his programme was warned not to speak out too heavily because he is dealing with dangerous peo- ple. Why should people fighting against wrongdoing be scared?" Referring to Tabone's newslet- ter, Agius pointed out that no football club president, secretary or treasurer has yet called Tabone out for lying or erring. With regard to the betting sta- tistics, Agius said that people bet- ting on Maltese games win an av- erage of €157 million per year. "I'm not referring to any particu- lar club but Malta is a small place where everyone knows everyone," Agius said. "There have been cases where people approached young goalkeepers in the street and threatened them to concede two goals in their next game. "The government, the MFA, the Malta Gaming Authority and the police should all do as much as possible to clean Maltese football up. Today it's football, but tomor- row it might be another sport." New legislation to combat money laundering and terrorism financing TIM DIACONO FINANCE Minister Edward Sci- cluna announced a number of le- gal amendments aimed at tackling money laundering and the financing of terrorist activity. Speaking in Parliament, Scicluna said that the validity of sequestering orders will be extended from 30 days to 54 days, which a court will be able to extend to a maximum of 90 days. "30 days is too short a time for the people to conduct their investiga- tions properly, particularly where the cases involve a number of sus- pects and companies," Scicluna said. "This can result in the police not us- ing sequestering orders as much as they otherwise would." The maximum administrative fine for contravention or failure of com- pliance will increase from €46,000 to €150,000. The Financial Intelligence Analy- sis Unit's power to freeze financial operations and transactions that they suspect involve money laun- dering or terrorism financing will be extended from 24 hours to three working days. "At 24 hours, the FIAU has less time to inspect such activities than any other financial intelligence unit in Europe," Scicluna pointed out. "It is certainly not enough time for the FIAU to carry out an effective analy- sis." "The best way to fight a criminal is to disallow him from enjoying the financial fruit of his criminality," Scicluna said. Opposition deputy leader Mario de Marco said that money launder- ing undermines the entire financial services sector and that Malta must be on its guard to counter it. "One of the best weapons against terrorism is the financial arm, to deny terrorists access to finance and to deny people from making a profit from terrorism," de Marco said. "ISIS' earns over $2 million a day through oil sales, money that they then use for recruitment and to purchase weapons and information. Terrorist groups today are properly organized and don't only exist in Syria and Iraq but in Europe too. We must stay ahead of the game." He also warned that it is getting in- creasingly difficult for governments to draw the line between terrorist and criminal groups, as terrorist groups are often involved in crimi- nal activity such as drug producton. "We are living in another world war," de Marco said. "Thousands of people are dying every day and millions of people are living as refu- gees." HEALTH parliamentary sec- retary Chris Fearne has called for a proper discussion regard- ing the age of consent in Malta. "We have an anomalous situ- ation where 16-year-olds are allowed to marry and work and are criminally accountable, but they aren't allowed to have sex," Fearne pointed out, during the second reading of a draft coun- selling professions law in Par- liament. Last week, Labour whip God- frey Farrugia called for the low- ering of the age of consent from 18- to 16-years-old. Speaking in Parliament, Far- rugia had pointed out that Mal- ta is the only European country where the age of consent is so high. "The age of consent in all Eu- ropean countries except for Cy- prus is between 14 and 16," Far- rugia said. "Turkey is the only country geographically close to Europe where the age of con- sent is 18. "The time has come to move ahead with the times, provide social justice to 16-17 year olds, and change this clause in the law that is causing suffering among youths in this age group, as well as their partners." Health secretary criticises 'anomalous' age of consent situation Students refuse to evacuate court despite bomb threat 71 lawyers and two legal procurators who were sitting for their legal war- rant exam in the law court building last Thursday all refused to stop writ- ing when a bomb threat disrupted their exam. "The exam began at 9am and was scheduled to finish at noon," Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said in re- sponse to a parliamentary question by shadow justice minister Jason Azzo- pardi. "Due to a bomb threat, the law courts issued instructions to evacu- ate everybody, including the people sitting for their warrant exams. "However, as soon as the lawyers and legal procurators were told about the bomb threat and that their exams were consequently cancelled, they started protesting. Absolutely none of them was willing to leave the courts. "Following necessary consultation, the exam-takers were told that they would be allowed to continue sit- ting for their exams under their own personal responsibility. Everybody accepted to continue working under these conditions." Chris Fearne Edward Scicluna