Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/530451
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 21 JUNE 2015 4 News JURGEN BALZAN THE anti-corruption task force set up by the Malta Football As- sociation will be asking lawmakers to widen the scope of the whistle- blower act in order to fight corrup- tion in sport. In recent weeks, the world of sports has been rocked by a number of scandals, including the corrup- tion allegations against the inter- national football federation FIFA, and closer to home, the demotion of Nadur Youngsters Football Club from the Gozitan top flight after a former official was found guilty of attempting to bribe players. This week, a debate on sports in- tegrity organised by the European Parliament office in Malta brought all stakeholders together, including MFA vice-president Chris Bonnett who insisted that the existing tools to fight corruption are not suffi- cient. "The tools at our disposal are not enough because unfortunately our country does not have the sporting tradition of other countries and is more exposed to the manipulation of sports competitions," Bonnet said. He added that low wages, the lack of professional athletes and the low profile of sports competitions make Malta an easier target for in- ternational criminal rings involved in match-fixing. "We're also worried by the surge of foreign owners in Maltese foot- ball, especially when they claim that they do not expect anything in return for their investments," Bon- net said. Last month, a number of officials and a manager involved in local football were arrested in connec- tion with an international illegal football betting syndicate that was busted by Italian police. "The manipulation of games is about organised crime. Sports is used as another vehicle by criminal syndicates to make more money," Bonnett said. The MFA vice-president noted that the task force – which in- cludes government, opposition, police and the gaming authority representatives – is set to draft an action plan which will include pro- posals such as widening the scope of the whistleblower act. Currently, the legislation intro- duced in 2013 grants employees in both the private sector and the public administration the right to disclose information regarding im- proper practices. But in effect athletes and officials are not granted protection if they raise the alarm on bribery cases in- volving other clubs. While stressing the need to en- hance education and governance, Bonnett said the country needs to review its legislation to address new factors such as cross-border betting, and grant new investiga- tive powers to prosecutors, such as phone tapping and the introduc- tion of anonymous testimony. In comments to MaltaToday, the MFA's Integrity Officer, Franz Tabone, confirmed that the MFA does receive reports and informa- tion about corruption in football, however he admitted that the major problem is in providing evi- dence. "It's not easy for a witness to come forward and tell you 'Mr X offered me money to play badly'. It's very difficult. Witnesses only come for- ward if they're really angry or done in by somebody else." Tabone explained that football- ers who expose cases of corruption are considered as traitors by the tightly-knit football community, "when in reality the real traitors are those who fix games". Since 2012, the MFA has been using Swiss surveillance specialists Sportradar's live betting analysis software to flag suspicious betting patterns. The MFA says that 32 out of 300 Premier League and Di- vision One games were flagged as suspicious in the 2012-13 season, falling to 12 in the following season after the FA conducted its 'Say No to Match Fixing' campaign. Some €50 million and €20 mil- lion in legal bets were placed on Premier League and First Divi- sion games, respectively. The MFA suspects that the same amount of money is played on the Maltese league illegally. During the debate on sports in- tegrity, Tabone expressed disap- pointment at the lack of coopera- tion shown by betting companies based in Malta. In reaction, Corrine Gatt from the Malta Gaming Authority ad- mitted that while only a few com- panies based in Malta take bets on local football, the authority needs to "educate" the companies on sharing information with the MFA and the police. On his part, assistant police com- missioner Antoine Casha said that the police cannot prosecute people unless they have enough evidence. He also expressed agreement with the MFA's calls for tougher legislation and enhanced investi- gative tools similar to those grant- ed to the police in cases of financial crimes. Gaming industry tug of war During the roundtable debate, the Council of Europe's Stanislas Frossard gave an overview of the convention on the manipulation of sports competitions, which Malta voted against, having found itself in a political tug of war regarding the multi-million online betting industry. Frossard said that the council is attempting to get non-European countries to sign the convention but the US and China "are difficult partners" because they fear it could interfere in their national betting industries. The council's convention on the manipulation of sports competi- tions is a wide-ranging treaty which commits countries to raise their efforts in the fight against match- fixing in order to protect the in- tegrity of sport and sports ethics in accordance with the principle of the autonomy of sport. Frossard explained that indi- vidual countries are commit- ted to fight the manipulation of sports competitions by adopting a number of measures in the fields of prevention, criminal law and information sharing and coopera- tion between public authorities, sports organisations and betting operators, nationally as well as in- ternationally. Noting that around 60 cases of sports competition manipulation are reported every year, Frossard said "the international nature of these illegal operations make it harder to investigate and pros- ecute". In voting against the conven- tion, Malta argued that the gam- ing industry is a service like any other and should be regulated under the EU's freedom of move- ment rules. But other EU coun- tries are attempting to lure back companies which have relocated to Malta. However, Frossard strayed away from the political minefield by insisting that the Council of Eu- rope remained "neutral" and "the convention is about the integrity of sport and it did not intend to play a role in opening or closing the market." Football association says changes needed to whistleblower law to tackle match-fixing Malta Football Association sees need of whistleblower act amendments to fight corruption in football MFA Integrity Officer Franz Tabone: The major problem is providing evidence