A 21-year-old football player charged with match fixing pleaded guilty in court today but the court exempted him from punishment because of his collaboration with the police.
Seyble Zammit faced a number of match fixing charges relating to the UEFA U-21 Championship Group One qualifiers.
In his decision Magistrate Saviour Demicoli found the man guilty but exempted him from punishment by applying the provisions of a law (Chapter 263) which deals specifically with cases of corruption in sport. According to these provisos when a person pleads guilty and reveals information in court related to the case he may be exempted from punishment.
During today's sitting Police inspector Sean Scicluna told the court that on March 26, MFA Integrity Officer Franz Tabone had approached them on allegations of corruption regarding the Uefa Under 21 qualifier which Malta had lost against Montenegro by 1-0 three days earlier.
Subsequently, another player of the Under 21 Maltese national team had been approached regarding the following game against the Czech Republic, which was due to be played on March 29. This led to the arrest of the accused and another person whose name was not disclosed by the inspector.
The court heard that during the interrogation the defendant claimed that he had been offered about €6,000 to secure the deal by a foreigner who had come to Malta for such purposes. However, none of the players who were not mentioned by name accepted the offer.
During the interrogation the accused claimed that he had been warned that failure on his part to secure the deal, would mean that he would have to pay for the lodging and travel expenses of the third party behind the match-fixing operation.
On the prosecution's request, the sitting continued behind closed door for the defendant to testify. The court acceded to this request so as not to jeopardize investigation on this match-fixing scandal which was still going on.
The sentence was given an hour later, when the accused emerged from the court room, where he was given a warm embrace by sobbing members of his family who had been anxiously waiting for the developments.
Lawyers Mario Mifsud and Marion Camilleri were defense counsel.