Football association of Malawi (FAM) general secretary Alfred Gunda has hinted that Southern Region Footballing League (SRFL) table toppers Nchalo United will face punishment over their involvement in a match fixing scandal.
Earlier this week, the National Referees Committee (NRC) banned for life 4 Northern Region referees for being found guilty of receiving bribes to manipulate the result of Nchalo’s Carlsberg Cup round of 32 tie against Chitipa United.
The four corrupt officials are grade one referee Aziz Nyirenda, Limbani Chisambi, Stephano Gomani and Jimmy Phiri.
The match was played on 13 July this year and despite palm oiling the referees with MK15,000 kwacha, the Lower Shire outfit went on to lose the match on penalty shootouts.
Commenting on the matter on Wednesday Gunda said: “Now that NRC has made its resolution on the referees, it will forward its recommendations to the FAM disciplinary committee which will soon meet to decide the club’s fate.”
Gunda added that “the ban should serve as a stern warning to all corrupt minded individuals that they have no place in the game.”
The FAM general secretary then disclosed that his body is engaging the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to develop a working relationship which will enable them unearth corruption cases in football and prosecute them.
“Corruption is the same, whether in football or outside it, so we will work with the ACB and where evidence is found the law will take its cause,” said Gunda.
However, Gunda could not say whether the match fixing scandal will be the first football related case to be prosecuted by the graft busting body.
Asiyeni ana mukusiya bwanji Noma