Football Club Partizan is being sued in Malta for €150,000 in scouting fees and other football-related services for which it had engaged the assistance of a local agency. 

The issue landed before the civil courts after Dito Trading and Consulting Limited, the company originally servicing the Serbian football club, went through a cross-border merger and was incorporated into Lian Sports Limited, a sports management company based in Ireland.

In terms of an agreement between Dito and Partizan, the Belgrade club had agreed that the Maltese company was to facilitate and assist in various football-related activities including identifying transfer targets, setting up contacts with clubs in Europe, scouting young talent and contacting senior players. 

The sum for those services was fixed at €150,000, besides expenses related to travel and mobile communication. 

That agreement was signed in January 2017. 

Subsequently, the Maltese company underwent a cross-border merger with the Irish company, completed under the order of a foreign high court which first scrutinised the legality of the merger.

When that merger took effect on July 7, 2022, the debt owed to Dito was still pending.

Lian Sports sought to recover the sum it claimed to be owed by Partizan, seeking to do so even through informal channels and subsequently by means of a judicial letter dated July 24, 2023 which called for “the prompt settlement of the outstanding debt”.

But all attempts failed. 

During a meeting last month, the company’s board of directors resolved that a Maltese lawyer, namely Carlos Bugeja, was to represent Lian Sports Limited in civil litigation before the Maltese courts for the purpose of recovering its dues. 

The original agreement with Partizan had provided for a Maltese jurisdiction clause so the matter was now before the First Hall, Civil Court by means of a sworn application filed by Bugeja against deputy curators who are to represent the foreign club.