Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/740013
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2016 MATTHEW AGIUS AFM officer Ronnie MacKay and another man, Chris Brincat have been handed a jail and a suspend- ed sentence, and fines for attempt- ing to bribe players to fix matches. MacKay, a soldier who is cur- rently undergoing separate judi- cial proceedings over other match fixing allegations, was also found guilty of committing an offence that he was duty bound to pre- vent, and breaching a conditional discharge he received in 2010. Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, presiding the Court of Magistrates as a court of crimi- nal judicature, had heard that the MFA's Integrity Officer Frans Tabone had received a phone call from the president of Naxxar Li- ons FC in September 2012, in- forming him that one of the club's players, Sunday Eboh, had been approached and offered a bribe. Eboh, determined to blow the lid off the actions of Brincat and Mackay, who was still listed as a football player by the MFA despite no longer being active in the sport, had insisted on going to police. Prosecuting Inspector Melvyn Camilleri testified to being in- formed by Tabone and Eboh of a Naxxar player being approached and offered money to play badly in the club's upcoming game against Gzira. Eboh had told the officer he was called up by teammate Jermain Brincat and told to meet him in Guardamangia. Upon arriving at the meeting point, he found Chris Brincat instead of Jermain. Brin- cat told Eboh that "another person was on his way and would explain things in detail." That person, Ronnie MacKay had offered him the bribe and as- sured Eboh that the president of Gzira FC had nothing to do with the meeting. The player asked whether anyone else was in on the deal, and MacKay said he had been the only one at that point. MacKay had claimed the meet- ing with Eboh was to ask him whether he knew any players in- terested in the Futsal league, but the court said this explanation did not make sense. The court noted that the ac- cused both released statements containing several contradictions and inconsistencies as to who had asked whom to meet where, not- ing that it was suspicious to differ on these issues if the meeting was simply to ask about the player's in- terest in futsal. Eboh testified that both accused men had told him that "Gzira must win the game" and handed police a recording of the conver- sation he made on his phone. The conversation revealed that it had been MacKay who met with Eboh and Brincat on the day in ques- tion. Noting that MacKay had already been found guilty of very serious offences, including insulting and using violence against a public of- ficial, he could not benefit from first-time offender reductions in punishment. MacKay was jailed for 18 months and fined €1,500, while Brincat was sentenced to one-year imprisonment suspend- ed for three years, and ordered to pay a €1,500 fine. News MALTA BUDGET 2017 As a leading firm in Malta offering corporate and private client advisory, audit, accounting and tax services, we invite you to visit our website for more updates on the 2017 Malta Budget. 00 356 2163 7778 www.nexiabt.com info@nexiabt.com Find us on: Contact us: Army man jailed 18 months for match-fixing