New law on match-fixing to replace outdated legislation

A new law to tackle the outdated match-fixing regulations which have been in force since 1976 will be debated in Parliament shortly, the government said yesterday.

The development comes in the wake of two cases of corruption reported this week – the banning of two players and suspension of four others by the European football governing body UEFA, and the suspended sentence handed down to a coach who was found guilty of an attempt to bribe players.

The new law, the government said, will be suitable to tackle today’s scenarios, and will give a new definition of corruption in sport, widens the courts’ jurisdiction over such crimes and increases the level of punishment.

The government said that it is committed to adopt a zero tolerance to corruption in sport, while protecting individuals who may become victims of organised crime.

The law will be discussed after a consultation process initiated by the parliamentary secretariat for sport, which led to a task force entrusted with the drawing up of the legislation.

On Wednesday, the Nationalist Party urged the government to move the draft bill on sports corruption, which the parties had worked on last year. It said the recent ugly events had shown how urgent this law was.

The party also believes that the time has come for an anti-sport corruption platform, which would include several stakeholders, to be set up.