An Authority for Integrity in Maltese Sport will be set up after a public consultation process, the government announced on Saturday. 

Parliamentary Secretary Clifton Grima said the authority would build on the National Sport Strategy and concern itself with all matters of sport governance and integrity, integrating the national anti-doping organisation, the Sports Integrity Unit and the Register for Persons in Sport currently administered by Sport Malta.

Grima said the new authority's objectives would be credibility, transparency, accounting, education, leadership, and regulations.

Malta Football Association president Bjorn Vassallo said this coordinated approach for the fight against illicit activity in sports was being organised through an authority that prevents, exposes, and educates about bribery and illegality in sports.

"Fraud in sports destroys all positive efforts made to promote a healthy society built on values and ethics," he said. "Together we showed that we want to succeed. We want the government and the authorities to continue coordinating with sports organisations to strengthen governance in sport through integrity."

Malta Basketball Association Paul Sultana said all those who held sports close to their heart should do their utmost, not only to safeguard integrity, but also to strengthen the structures and processes, to ensure that anything which threatened transparency and fair play was overcome in the strongest manner possible.

“This authority will serve as a platform for the importance of sports in our country as it addresses problems such as manipulation of competitions and sports events, and doping issues”, concluded Paul Sultana.

This public consultation is open until March 20 and can be accessed online.