INTERPOL Integrity in Sport Bi-Weekly Bulletin - 20 March - 3 April 2018

Over the past two weeks of March, we followed with interest ongoing investigations, sentences and sanctions, and good practices to protect the integrity of sport.

In Greece, Nottingham Forest and Olympiakos owner has been cleared of forming a match-fixing ring in Greece by the country's Supreme Court, but may still face a bribery charge.

He also faces charges of drug trafficking in a heroin smuggling case, which he denies. In Malta, the Malta Football Association (MFA) is looking into match-fixing allegations for the international friendly between Finland and Malta. Similarly, match-fixing suspicions are being raised for the friendly between Sierra Leone and Iran.

In terms of sanctions and sentences, Albania’s leading club KF Skënderbeu has been issued with a 10-year ban from European competition by UEFA for match-fixing. Skënderbeu were also handed a €1 million fine for fixing more than 50 matches. In Greece, the owner of Greek club PAOK has been banned for three years after storming onto the pitch with a holstered gun on his belt. The ruling also includes a 100,000-euro ($123,000) fine for Greek-Russian businessman Savvidis and a separate 63,000-euro fine for PAOK.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to give a 20-year ban on Rajan Nayer from getting involved in any of the ICC activities. He confessed to the ICC that he had offered Graeme Cremer to fix a match in exchange for money, but the Zimbabwe captain had declined the offer.

Also in Australian cricket, captain Steve Smith has been banned for one match and fined his entire match fee by the ICC for his part in a ball-tampering incident in South Africa.

As a result of the ball-tampering scandal, Darren Lehmann is to quit as head coach of Australia at the end of the current Test series against South Africa.

Concerning doping, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) brought together anti-doping investigators and analysts to strengthen its network and capacity for an intelligence and investigations led anti-doping policy. The International Boxing Association (AIBA) has outsourced its anti-doping programme, as part of a package of governance reform measures to convince the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to lift its warning on boxing's Olympic status.

Regarding good practices, we note with interest that the Australian government is considering setting up a national body to keep drugs and match-fixing out of Australian sport.

In terms of partnerships, the Austrian Play Fair Code (PFC) have signed a memorandum of understanding with Sportradar and UEFA and ESSA join forces to combat match-fixing by signing an information-sharing agreement.

Tuesday, 03 April 2018