Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/866589
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 27 AUGUST 2017 News 5 Convicted match-fixer rues harsher penalties in Facebook post Former AFM soldier convicted of match fixing says paedophile got less than five years' jail proposed for sports corruption charges MATTHEW AGIUS CONVICTED match-fixer Ronnie Mackay has taken to Facebook to lament the imbalance in criminal penalties for different offences. Mackay, the man at the centre of one of Malta's most notorious sports corruption cases, is fight- ing an appeal against a two-year prison sentence and €2,000 fine that he received in July after being found guilty of fixing the outcome of a Malta Under-21 football game against Montenegro, for a Chinese betting syndicate. A new updated law will impose harsher penalties on match fixing, extending Maltese jurisdiction on persons implicated in corruption, and offer protection to whistle- blowers who speak out against cor- ruption. They include a five-year jail term for athletes and club officials guilty of sport corruption, and a hefty fine running into thousands of eu- ros, which are harsher than those envisaged in the existing laws. The penalties will be harsher for club and match officials, athletes, including those who have retired, and individuals with no direct con- nection to a sporting organisation but who stand to benefit from cor- ruption. But the ex-soldier took to Face- book on Wednesday evening after reports of a proposed increase in punishments for those found guilty of corruption in sporting events. "You can get five years in prison and a €150,000 fine over a football game and then some guy who sexu- ally abused six kids and admitted it gets four years. He fucked up six kids' lives. Mickey Mouse country. There is no other way of putting it: Mickey Mouse justice. Well done. "And then in Italy… with foot- ball played for millions, not pea- nuts like here – go see if [disgraced former Juventus general manager Luciano] Moggi spent an hour in prison. Well done. It must be a sign that Maltese football is better than Italian and after all, charity begins at home." The former soldier ended his rant with an ominous and enigmatic prediction: "My dears, you know who I am talking about. One day the volcano will erupt and a lot of lava will spew out and the bigwigs that are there will have to pay." Mackay, a former AFM soldier dismissed in 2014, was in the past also found to have made several at- tempts to bribe players in another game, against Czech Republic, in March 2016. In 2014, Mackay and two other AFM soldiers were also convicted of attempted theft from a Victoria showroom and sentenced to 18 months in jail. Mackay also stood accused of bribing Naxxar player Sunday Eb- oh prior to a First Division game against Gzira in September 2012. The MFA's Integrity Officer Frans Tabone had received a phone call from the president of Naxxar Lions FC in September 2012, informing him that one of the club's play- ers, Sunday Eboh, had been ap- proached and offered a bribe. Eboh, determined to blow the lid off the actions of Mackay and co-accused Chris Brincat, had in- sisted on going to police. Eboh had told the police he was called up by teammate Jermain Brincat and told to meet him in Gwardamangia, where on arriving he found Chris Brincat and Ronnie MacKay, who offered him a bribe to play badly against Gzira. MacKay was jailed for 18 months and fined €1,500, while Brincat was sentenced to one-year imprison- ment suspended for three years, and ordered to pay a €1,500 fine. Mackay has in the past told the court of his addiction to gambling having led him into a downward spiral that left his family "finan- cially ruined" and in serious debt with three banks and various loan sharks. After serving his sentence, he told Magistrate Joe Mifsud that nobody was willing to employ him as he had a criminal record. DENISE GRECH THE Malta Employers' Asso- ciation (MEA) drew immediate backlash this week upon pro- posing what it said was a 'wait- ing day' for the first day of sick leave to go unpaid. "Sporadic sick leave linked to weekends", the MEA said, as well as increased incidence of sick leave were pinpointed as the catalysts for its position. But yesterday, NGOs such as Moviment Graffitti and Adi- tus foundation condemned the proposition, calling it a viola- tion of human rights. "MEA's proposition is proof that profit is being prioritised over the health and wellbeing of employees," Moviment Graffitti said, calling on other workers' organisations to come together to protect these rights. Several unions, including the Malta Union of Teachers and the Malta Union of Bank Employees (MUBE), came out against the proposition, calling it a violation of human rights. "The proposal would turn back time to a period when workers were abused and ex- ploited," said the General Workers' Union. The MUT said the proposal would lead to the abuse of workers, and called o the gov- ernment to instead focus on delivering promises made in the electoral manifesto. "Instead of such backward proposals, the MUT favours measures that invest in employees, promot- ing and safeguarding physical and mental health, safety, and increasing the quality of life to tackle issues such as work-life imbalance and burnout." The union insisted that the proposal treats sick employees with suspicion, increasing fi- nancial burdens on those with chronic physical illnesses. The MUT cited its talks with the Directorate for Educational Services to allow identified edu- cators to obtain free vaccination for hepatitis as proof of its com- mitment to safeguarding em- ployees' health and urged the MEA to do the same. During a meeting with the Employment Relations Board, Forum Unions Maltin ad- dressed the MEA, insisting that all medically certified sick leave should be compensated. FOR.U.M agreed that con- trolled measures should be in place so as to curtail abuse and offered its support to organisa- tions which put forward their proposals on the topic. The Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin called the proposal illegal, while the MUBE said the measure defeated the whole scope of a planned approach without safeguarding the "gen- uine cases" that need care. "MEA's shooting from the hip, at what comes across hoping to land a win, is definitely not acceptable by any standard," MUBE said. MEA's 'sick' proposal riles trade unions, NGOs Convicted match-fixer Ronnie Mackay's Facebook post, complaining about harsher penalties against corruption in sport