INTERPOL Integrity in Sport Bi-Weekly Bulletin - 12- 25 December 2017

This month, Slovenian Police, supported by the Croatian Police and Europol, have dismantled an international crime syndicate involved in sports corruption and illegal betting. Police made 11 arrests after 13 house and 15 vehicle searches in Slovenia and Croatia.

A number of sport related investigations in Australia, Belgium and Kenya came to light the past two weeks. The first is that Cricket Australia announced to work closely with the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit as The Sun newspaper published evidence of bookmakers offering to sell details of rigged periods of play for betting purposes. Another case in Australia shows that a Shelbourne harness racing trainer has pleaded guilty to his role in fixing three races in country Victoria in 2014. In another development, Former Olympic champion cyclist Alexander Vinokourov is to face trial for corruption in Belgium over allegations he paid a rival to let him win a major race. Additionally, there are also allegations on match-fixing in Kenyan Boxing and tampering with the computer scoring system.

When it comes to sanctions, Polish tennis player Piotr Gadomski has received a further suspension after attending a tennis tournament though he was under suspension. This breach was considered new and an additional corruption offence, and therefore the original seven-year ban will be extended by a further period of 18 months.

With regards to legislation, we continue to follow with keen interest the recent developments and debates in India on the legalization of sports betting and gambling. We are glad to note that Latvia became the 29th Council of Europe member State having signed the Council of Europe Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions (“Macolin Convention”).

In terms of good practices, the International Partnership against Corruption in Sport (IPACS) established multi-stakeholder taskforces to tackle major challenges to sports integrity. Each taskforce is aimed at developing specific initiatives such as pilot projects and reporting back to the IPACS working group during its next meeting scheduled for June 2018 at the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) headquarters.

Furthermore, the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) launched a dedicated whistleblower hotline for the United States and Canada where athletes, sports execs and members of the public can report misconduct. Moreover, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) partnered with Sportradar to safeguard table tennis against match-fixing.

lier this December, the Global Lottery Monitoring System for sports betting (GLMS) announced the acquisition of an analytical tool that has customizable functionalities to prevent, detect, and manage all possible irregular and suspicious betting patterns. The TXODDS-powered GLMS system will ensure high efficiency in monitoring of betting patterns. Additionally, GLMS announced the launch of a new operational hub in Hong Kong which makes GLMS the only monitoring system with true global operations.

Significantly, the Network of National Platforms which was set up to fight against the manipulation of sports competitions has approved the features of its surveillance and alert tools. This system will be used as part of a cooperation exercise with the International Olympic Committee during the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang in February 2018.

With the need for an effective, coordinated response to counter the threat of competition manipulation and related corruption in the sports world, INTERPOL’s Anti-Corruption unit and the International Olympic Committee, in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Police General Headquarters, organized an Integrity in Sport National Workshop which gathered some 40 participants from law enforcement, the UAE National Olympic Committee, national sport federations and public authorities. The Abu Dhabi workshop aimed to identify key stakeholders for the development of a coordinated national approach in the UAE that protects the integrity of sport and facilitates the national and international cooperation necessary for preventing and investigating competition manipulation.

Monday, 08 January 2018