INTERPOL Integrity in Sport Bi-Weekly Bulletin - 2-15 May 2016

This week the bulletin is sent today since Monday was a public holiday in France. This week we give the floor to Olivier Niggli, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel and the incoming Director General of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). He addresses a major concern for sports today, Performance Enhancing Drugs.

For the first two weeks of May, there have been concerns in the claim of doping among Russian athletes at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. In addition, there is a focus on the dismantling of a Russian criminal gang laundering money through football in Portugal.

THE FLOOR TO...

Mr. Olivier Niggli, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel and Incoming Director General, World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)

The desire of certain sportsmen and women, amateurs and professionals alike, to artificially – and illegally –increase their performance through the use of Performance Enhacing Drugs (PEDs), is one of the major causes for concern in sports today. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was created in 1999 for this exact purpose. Today, WADA is a unique international body within the international sporting landscape tasked with ensuring that all athletes can participate in clean sports and on a level playing field. Although WADA has made a number of strides in the anti-doping movement, doping remains a complex subject to combat, as it touches on areas which, at first glance, seem worlds apart: medicine, sport and crime. This is the reason doping requires a holistic approach to be tackled effectively: scientific research, education and prevention programs, anti-doping policies and harmonization, etc. However, this holistic approach could not work effectively without a law enforcement perspective. Today, the sophisticated nature of doping practices, the networks of complicity behind them, and the systems which have been devised to cover up these practices, are matched only by the bewilderment that comes with each new revelation. And while doping practices may no longer come as a surprise, they remain extremely alarming. Indeed, given the interests at stake and the criminal practices of the networks involved, why can’t we see the doping of our sporting elites for what it is? Fraud. The reality impacting the sporting world also hides another alarming reality: mass consumption of performance-enhancing drugs. Indeed, doping is no longer limited to top-level athletes; and PED trafficking distributed through the internet or in amateur gyms and sport clubs constitutes a major challenge for public health.

WADA and INTERPOL share a common vision on the issue, which pushed both organizations to sign a cooperation agreement in 2009. Since then, the constant cooperation between the two bodies reflects the importance and the necessity to build bridges between the law enforcement and sporting worlds. Recently, in association with the WADA Independent Commission -which brought the allegations of corruption within the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)- INTERPOL’s Anti-Doping unit facilitated the opening of inquiries, and is now coordinating the international dimension of the operation. In addition, WADA is supporting INTERPOL’s recent initiative: the ENERGIA Project. In association with the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), Project ENERGIA supports Law Enforcement agencies with criminal intelligence analysis on illegal PED markets - including modus operandi, criminal trends, and major trafficking routes. During my visit to the INTERPOL General Secretariat in Lyon, France in March 2016, I could see how close our collaboration really is, and how essential it is for the future of clean sport. In keeping with the 2015 World Anti-Doping Code, WADA is enhancing its investigation & intelligence capacity; and it encourages the entire anti-doping community to do so as well.

Doping is a serious challenge for sports integrity. Fortunately, both WADA and INTERPOL share the same objective: protect clean sport to reassure athletes of our full commitment to tackling cheaters and traffickers.

INVESTIGATIONS

France

French financial prosecutors have confirmed that they are investigating allegations of “corruption and money laundering” involving more than $2m in suspicious payments apparently made by the Tokyo 2020 Olympic bid to a secret bank account linked to the son of disgraced former world athletics chief Lamine Diack. The Guardian revealed on Wednesday that payments totaling at least $1.5m had apparently been made to the Black Tidings company that was at the centre of other allegations of extortion and bribery linked to the International Association of Athletics Federations. Now, French prosecutors have confirmed that they are investigating payments totaling 2.8m Singapore dollars that were made under the title “Tokyo 2020 Olympic Game bid” either side of Tokyo’s successful bid to host the Games in September 2013. The French financial prosecutor said that it was informed about the payments, made from a Japanese bank account to Black Tidings in July and October 2013, in December last year as it investigated allegations against the IAAF that led to Lamine Diack’s arrest and accusations he had received more than €1m in return for covering up failed drug tests.

Source: Owen Gibson, "French financial prosecutors confirm investigation into Tokyo 2020 bid ", 12 May 2016, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/12/french-financial-prosecutors-confirm-investigation-into-tokyo-2020-bid-olympics-black-tidings

Portugal

European and Portuguese police say they have dismantled a mainly Russian criminal gang laundering money through football in Portugal. EU law enforcement agency EUROPOL said the gang purchased football clubs and then used them as a front for an opaque network of holding companies. It said four major football clubs were searched along with houses and offices, resulting in three "key" arrests. Third division club Uniao de Leiria was among those raided. Leiria's owner Alexander Tolstikov has been detained, along with two other club officials, Portuguese media report. They are all due to appear in court on Thursday morning. Uniao de Leiria was a top-flight club, at one point managed by Jose Mourinho, but it fell out of the Primera Liga in 2012 and dropped to the third division before going bankrupt and being bought by Mr Tolstikov in 2015. It is currently fighting for promotion to the second division.

Source: AP, "Portugal police raid 'Russian football gang'", 4 May 2016, BBC, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36203418

Spain

The Spanish league is investigating match-fixing involving a game between Rayo Vallecano and Real Sociedad. League president Javier Tebas told Spanish radio Cadena SER on Friday that the league is investigating Rayo's 2-1 loss at Sociedad on Sunday. Tebas said the league decided to launch a probe after it noticed "abnormal" movements in the betting market for the match and heard "rumors of an argument between players at halftime." Rayo's players, coach and president denied there was any wrongdoing. "This isn't good for us or the club or the league," Rayo captain Roberto Trashorras said. "I don't know who wants to hurt Rayo, but these are very strong allegations. These things have to be proven." The loss left Rayo in the relegation zone with one match left. Rayo must beat already relegated Levante on Sunday and hope for favorable results in other matches to stay in the first division. Sociedad was in the middle of the table before the match and not in the relegation fight.

Source: Associated Press, "Spanish league says it is investigating match-fixing", 13 May 2016, Boston Herald, https://www.bostonherald.com/sports/soccer/2016/05/spanish_league_says_it_is_investigating_match_fixing

SENTENCES/SANCTIONS

Switzerland

ZURICH (AP) — FIFA ethics judges have imposed life bans on two South American football officials who have pleaded guilty in the United States to corruption charges. The FIFA Ethics Committee judging chamber says it found Luis Bedoya, a former FIFA Executive Committee member from Colombia, and Sergio Jadue of Chile guilty of wrongdoing including bribery and conflicts of interest. Bedoya and Jadue were national soccer federation presidents when they waived indictment last November on charges of racketeering and wire fraud conspiracies. They took million-dollar bribes linked to marketing rights for the Copa America and Copa Libertadores tournaments. FIFA's ethics committee says the case "related to two schemes by means of which they asked for and received bribes from sports marketing companies." Bedoya and Jadue await sentence from a federal court in Brooklyn.

Source: AP, "FIFA gives lifetime bans to two South American officials for bribery", 6 May 2016, AP, https://www.bigstory.ap.org/article/f3fbc570bcfe4df6bdd797ddc0ffcb00/fifa-life-bans-2-south-american-officials-bribery

Tuesday, 17 May 2016