‘I won’t remain silent when Joe Mifsud calls me a liar’
Norman Darmanin Demajo reveals documents that $250,000 were paid into MFA president Joe Mifsud’s personal trust account for Malta-Bayern Munich match
Gerald Fenech
Norman Darmanin Demajo, the contender for the post of president of the Malta Football Association, will sue long-standing incumbent Joe Mifsud for libel, over statements he made on last week on PBS’s Dissett.
Darmanin Demajo yesterday revealed documents on the June 2000 friendly between Bayern Munich and a Maltese team selection, for which a sum of money was allegedly paid to influence Mifsud’s vote in favour of the German bid to host the 2006 World Cup.
“I have no quarrel with Joe Mifsud. The only dilemma I have is with myself, as I cannot continue to remain silent when I know that there is something wrong with how things were being handled at the MFA in those days,” Darmanin Demajo told journalists at a press conference yesterday.
Darmanin Demajo claimed that in October 2000, the MFA had received a payment of $250,000 in its account, with Mifsud then producing a contract – which was a ‘certified true copy of the original’ – which however aroused suspicion in the way it was worded.
“The contract was signed in Qrendi in June 2000, and amongst other clauses which aroused my suspicion was the one stating that it was imperative that the contract was only to be made available to the top executives of the MFA and the company which negotiated the deal. Additionally the amount stated is in a ‘fill in the blanks’ format with $250,000 written almost as an afterthought.”
Darmanin Demajo explained that it was written down in the contract that the amount of $250,000 was to be paid into a trust account in the name of Dr Mifsud, and not directly into the MFA’s coffers. He questioned why the amount was deposited into the MFA’s account only in October, when the contract specifically stated that payment was to be made two weeks after the contract was signed on the 1 June, 2000.
“I am only asking: where was the money for fourth months? When faced with all these irregularities I could not remain silent and had to take my case to the Board of Inquiry which however remained silent on the issue. I tried to raise the matter during the Executive Committee meetings but was always shouted down, with Mifsud even closing off my microphone. I then called a press conference to explain matters but still nothing happened.”
The story of how Mifsud was allegedly influenced in voting for the German World Cup bid is documented in various books and articles by British journalists. Investigative journalist Andrew Jennings had revealed how the Germans attempted to sway four FIFA Executive Committee members – Mifsud among them – to convince them to vote for the German bid.
According to an article published in Manager Magazine in 2003, the payments made to the associations were ‘in the region of $300,000’, something which the Germans never denied.
According to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Malta, Thailand, Tunisia, and Trinidad and Tobago had been ‘bribed’ by Bayern Munich and German media mogul Leo Kirch in return for their votes (Germany won the bid by 12 votes to 11 for South Africa). In return, Bayern Munich – whose president was Franz Beckenbauer, also president of Germany’s 2006 World Cup Organising Committee – would play friendlies in each of the four nations, while Leo Kirch would bring in big cash for the associations through the TV rights from his Kirchgruppe and CWL broadcasting company.
The contract for the Bayern match was signed between Mifsud and CWL managing director Gunther Netzer in 2000.
“All I am asking for is that the original contract be produced so that this matter can be cleared once and for all. I will be the first to admit that I made a mistake if evidence proves otherwise,” Darmanin Demajo said yesterday.
Darmanin Demajo confirmed he would be suing Mifsud for libel with regard to the various statements made on TV. “I am not a liar and neither am I a traitor. What I did and continue to do is for the good of football and am proud to say that my conscience is clear. I am also making an appeal to Mifsud to come clean in the upcoming two months to the MFA Presidency elections so that these can be contested in a calm spirit for the good of the game.”
Now MFA president for the past 18 years, Mifsud’s last encounter with his detractors was at the hand Darmanin Demajo. Dédé, a former friend of Mifsud, broke ranks in 2000 when he questioned the lavish expenditure on the Millennium Stand, and a TV broadcasting rights deal brokered between Mifsud and Swiss company CWL.
In 2007, he launched his bid to dethrone Mifsud. It was a blow for the incumbent, who won by the skin of his teeth with 52 votes to Darmanin Demajo’s 49.
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