INTERPOL Integrity in Sport Bi-Weekly Bulletin - 21 May 2019 - 3 June

The Spanish National Police arrested several first- and second-division soccer players and officials on suspicion of forming a match-fixing group to profit from betting on games. Operation Oikos involved nine raids across the Spain and an expected 11 arrests. La Liga, Spanish football’s governing body, had contacted the authorities about a possible illegal scheme and had worked with them on the operation.

In Georgia, 11 soccer players have been arrested on suspicion of match-fixing and face lengthy prison sentences. In Australia, the Sporting Integrity Intelligence Unit (SIIU) detectives have charged a man in relation to alleged harness race fixing.

Belgian club Mechelen, who recently won the Belgian Cup, were stripped of their promotion to the Belgium top league and banned from European competitions. Mechelen were implicated in an investigation into suspicions of fraud related to the payment of salaries, commissions to agents and the suspected rigging of two games in March 2018.

A German tennis player has been suspended for nine months after being found to have committed a corruption offence under the terms of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Program. A Russian tennis official has been found guilty of failing to report a corrupt approach to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU). A Ukrainian tennis player has been handed a lifetime ban and $20,000 fine after being found guilty of match-fixing and related offences by the TIU.

The Kenyan track team coach who was sent home from the 2016 Olympics was banned for 10 years for seeking a bribe of $12,000 to help athletes beat doping tests.

In Morocco, a new anti-doping agency will be soon created. Russia is facing a ban from the 2020 Olympics over allegations that its top athletics officials oversaw the cover-up of a doping offence by a high jumper who had been tipped to win gold at the Games.

In Turkey, a total of 113 suspects were detained while 709 people wanted for various crimes were captured in the crackdown on illegal gambling dens.

The Malta Gaming Authority has signed an agreement with the Malta Police Force to strengthen the exchange of information relating to illegal gaming activities.

Finland’s National Police Board and the Finnish Transport and Communications Authority (Traficom) are committed to increase their efforts to crack down ads of illegal gambling operations on TV and radio.

In Sri Lanka, ten leading sports organizations launched the Association of Sports Federations Society (ASFS) in order to promote a multi-sports culture in the country while fighting corruption.

A former FIFA committee member from New Zealand and Oceania Football secretary general has been given an eight-year ban from all football-related activities and fined $75,000 by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).

The chief executive of a Qatari media group was handed preliminary charges of corruption as part of a French investigation into the bidding process for the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Qatar. He is being prosecuted for corruption for his alleged participation in the payments of large sums to a Senegalese company belonging to the son of a former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) president.

FIFA is restoring the offense of “corruption” to its code of ethics, almost one year after facing criticism over the symbolic removal of the term.

Lastly, we would like to share with our readership an article <https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/06/03/how-football-leaks-is-exposing-corruption-in-european-soccer> on how Football Leaks is exposing corruption in European soccer.

We welcome submissions on best practices, major developments, new trends and relevant articles for publication in the bulletin.

The next bi-weekly bulletin will be circulated on Monday, 17 June 2019.

Wednesday, 05 June 2019