INTERPOL Integrity in Sport Bi-Weekly Bulletin - 10 July 2018 - 23 July 2018

Over the past two weeks of July, we have been following with interest recent developments in terms of match-fixing investigations, sport sanctions and sentences.

In Africa, potential prison sentences may apply to seven cricket players who were involved in the South African match-fixing scandal of 2015. In Asia, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) opened an investigation into Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) bribery scandal following the telecast of an alleged phone conversation between a cricketer asking for favours in “cash and kind” to ensure an executive assistant’s selection. Also related to cricket, The International Cricket Council (ICC) annual report <https://app.nimble.com/api/v1/messages/tracking/click/51189a01e3b7c848c5c626dd/519fd147b8e4a17e77df32f8/5b55f7bd29e8e9045ab2b690/> stated that four captains of international cricket teams reported approaches to the Anti-Corruption Unit between 1 June 2017 and 31 May 2018.

In Europe, Italian football clubs Parma and Chievo Verona may face retroactive Serie A relegation for different offences: Parma was accused of attempted match-fixing while Chievo may face punishment for falsely accounting the transfer of 30 players. For the second time at a tennis major, a doubles match involving the Spanish player David Marrero has been flagged for suspicious betting behaviour, a possible sign of match-fixing.

In terms of sanctions, the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) reported that Colombian tennis player Robert Farah has been suspended for three months and fined $5,000 for facilitating betting by promoting a gambling website on social media. In terms of sentences, a Thai court indicted 15 players, a referee, and a linesman for involvement in match-fixing in the domestic football league last year.

The penalties could range from one to ten years in jail or up to 600,000 baht ($18,000) in fines.

Concerning good practices, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announces the signature of a memorandum of understanding with the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) aimed at coordinating efforts to fight doping activities and match-fixing.

Lastly, we would like to share with our readership the 2018 Report <https://app.nimble.com/api/v1/messages/tracking/click/51189a01e3b7c848c5c626dd/519fd147b8e4a17e77df32f8/5b55f7bd29e8e9045ab2b692/> on Suspicious Betting Trends in Global Football which analysed 54,757 matches in more than 500 competitions from 90 countries.

We welcome submissions on best practices, major developments, new trends and relevant articles for publication in the bulletin. We also welcome hard copies of publications that your Organization is producing in the field of sports corruption at the below address.

The next bi-weekly bulletin will be circulated on Monday, 6 August 2018.

Tuesday, 24 July 2018