Sports presenter retracts mismanagement claims against Sliema president

Sports presenter Sandro Micallef today presented an application in the court of Magistrate Anthonio Micallef Trigona, retracting allegations he had made against the former president of Sliema Wanderers Steve Abela.

Abela had sued the sports journalist for defamation following allegations he had made during the programme 'Kontra Attakk' aired on PBS in 2011, claiming that Steve Abela's management of the Sliema club had led to mismanagement which saw the club run into debts amounting to over €400,000.

Abela was at the time President of the club. Micallef had also alleged the same in an article he published on sportsmalta.com.

In the court application filed by Dr Roberto Montalto, Micallef explained that following a number of checks it had resulted that the allegations he had made were based on incorrect and incomplete information. In view of this he retracted the allegations and held that the former president of the Sliema Wanderers had left the club in the same financial situation as he had found it.