Court clears Silver in Chitsulo saga
While Mighty Wanderers contemplate reporting FAM to Fifa for failing to restrain Silver Strikers from taking the Tony Chitsulo transfer wrangle to an ordinary court, the High Court has said Silver committed no crime by taking that path.
The Commercial Division of the High Court has since ordered Wanderers to pay K1.95 million (about $4 875) plus one percent interest to Silver as payment for Chitsulo’s transfer.
Wanderers general secretary David Kanyenda said on Wednesday that Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has to explain why they allowed a football club to contravene Fifa statutes that prohibit resolving football disputes in an ordinary court of law.
“I have drafted a letter to Zurich (Fifa headquarters). FAM ought to have intervened earlier. FAM has been watching Silver sue us and they seem to react after the verdict. We have opted to report the matter because we have lost confidence in FAM,” said Kanyenda.
But contrary to Kanyenda’s reasoning, Judge Annabel Mtalimanja said according to Article 55 of FAM statutes, matters subject to arbitration are decisions of FAM organs and not matters of a dishonoured bill of exchange.
She said apart from contending that the matter be referred for arbitration, Wanderers have not shown any “bona fide defence” as to why the cheque should not be paid.
“When a bill is dishonoured by non-payment, an immediate right of recourse accrues against the drawer. A cheque is given and taken as cash. Where goods and services are paid for by a cheque which is subsequently dishonoured, the payee is entitled to summary judgement on the said cheque,” said Mtalimanja in her ruling.
In an interview, Silver treasurer Fred Kalonga said Wanderers has no defence as the contention for arbitration by FAM and Sulom is without basis and calculated at delaying payment.
Kalonga said they informed Sulom soon after the cheque was refused by the bank.
“That is why Wanderers are not using Chitsulo. We are surprised with what FAM is saying. Maybe they have failed to interpret Fifa statutes,” he said.
Apparently, while believing that Silver were in the wrong, FAM chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda said on Wednesday that Wanderers’ effort will hit a blank at Fifa.
“First of all, let me make it clear that Fifa does not entertain any query that has not passed through FAM as a member affiliate. Nevertheless, we feel Silver Strikers were at fault because they did not exhaust all the avenues to lodge their complaint on Chitsulo.
“As FAM, we were not served with summons to indicate that Silver Strikers were going to court over the issue. Otherwise, we could have stopped them right away because that was against Article 54 of the Fifa rules and Article 55 of FAM regulations. It is just unfortunate the issue has reached this far,” said Nyirenda.
However, Silver general secretary Mike Tembo argued that they served FAM and Sulom with a notice of their intention to take the Chitsulo matter to court two months ago.
He said they did nothing wrong because the matter was not about football but the recovery of their money after Wanderers’ cheque bounced at the bank.
But why are Nomads not putting this matter to rest by paying the transfer fee?
“Payment of the transfer fee will be the last thing to talk about. Let us solve the ethical issues first because that will determine the direction of our stand. However, if they want, Silver can take back their player.
“Moreover, if they (Silver) are clever enough, they can just abort the case to avoid the wrath of Fifa because we are also going to report them,” said Kanyenda.
Silver sought the redress after Wanderers on May 6 2013 issued cheque number 2924230260 of K1.9 million (about $4 750), which was not honoured by the bank because there were insufficient funds in the club’s account.
