A powerful intervention during the television programme Il-Kampjonat, hosted by Antvin Monseigneur, sent shockwaves through Malta’s sporting community. Dr. Sandro Camilleri, a former Assistant Police Commissioner and now Director for Integrity at AiMS, the Authority for Integrity in Maltese Sports, delivered a clear warning about the legal responsibilities surrounding match fixing in Malta.
Speaking in the context of a National Amateur League 1 match between Qormi and Attard, which is being investigated for match-fixing, Camilleri emphasised that Maltese law imposes a strict duty on any person who is aware of match-fixing or match manipulation. From the moment an individual becomes aware that an offence has been committed, they have fourteen days to report that information to the Commissioner of Police. Failure to do so, he explained, makes that person complicit in the crime and may result in up to one year of effective prison sentence.
This obligation is anchored in Chapter 593 of the Laws of Malta, the Prevention of Corruption in Sport Act. Article 5(1) states that any person who knows, whether verbally, in writing or otherwise, that an offence against Article 4 has been committed must communicate such knowledge to the Commissioner of Police within fourteen days from the date on which they became aware of the fact. The law provides an exception only for close family members of the person who committed the offence, such as spouses, partners, ascendants, descendants and certain relatives by marriage. For everyone else, whether players, coaches, officials, agents or persons in the wider sporting environment, the duty to report is mandatory.
In this context, the article recalls that the law in Malta has already been applied with full seriousness in previous cases. One of the clearest examples is the case of Rudger Scerri, a former Attard FC committee member who was found guilty of manipulating an amateur league football match between Attard FC and Kalkara FC in December 2020. Initially, in January 2021, Scerri received a suspended prison term, a substantial fine and was immediately suspended from football activity.
However, following an appeal by the Attorney General, the sentence was significantly increased in March 2024. Scerri was handed a six-month prison sentence, a ten-year ban from all sports events and placed under perpetual general interdiction. The consequences did not stop with the individual. Attard FC were stripped of nine points, fined one thousand euro and barred from international tournaments for five years as a direct result of the scandal.
This precedent shows that the Prevention of Corruption in Sport Act is not a symbolic piece of legislation but a powerful legal instrument that the Maltese courts are prepared to enforce. By highlighting the fourteen-day obligation on Il-Kampjonat and by recalling how the law has been used in the past, the message to the sporting community is unmistakable.
The intervention has not only sent shockwaves through the Maltese sporting world but has also educated thousands of viewers about a legal provision many were completely unaware of. The revelation that anyone with knowledge of match fixing has only fourteen days to report it, or risk becoming complicit.
For many within the sporting community, the clarity of Sandro Camilleri’s explanation was a wake-up call. What aired on Il-Kampjonat has turned a rarely discussed legal notice into a widely understood national talking point. Coaches, committee members, players, parents and even supporters are now openly acknowledging their responsibilities under Chapter 593 of the Laws of Malta.
