INTERPOL Integrity in Sport Bi-Weekly Bulletin - 29 May 2018 - 11 June 2018
In Africa, a two-year investigation into football has revealed footage of over 100 referees and officials being bribed before games, with 15 Ghanaian referees being accused of corruption allegations. As a result, FIFA’s Independent Ethics Committee banned Ghana’s Football Association (GFA) president over corruption.
In Europe, an Armenian-Belgian organized crime group actively involved in manipulating professional tennis competitions has been disrupted and 13 suspects have been arrested in 21 house searches across 12 different locations in Belgium. In this connection, five Armenians have been charged with corruption, money laundering, forgery and membership of a criminal organization.
Following a Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) investigation, an Ukrainian tennis player has been banned for life and fined $100,000 after being found guilty of match-fixing and facilitating betting.
In Croatia, former Dinamo Zagreb director was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for embezzlement and tax evasion. He was accused with three other former officials for embezzling 15 million euros through fictitious deals made during transfers of several football players to foreign clubs.
In terms of legislation, Swiss voted a new gambling law which will block all foreign betting sites in the country and will only allow Swiss-certified casinos and firms to operate.
In Asia, Sri Lanka plans to enact tougher laws and create a special police unit to deal with match-fixing following a documentary exposing corruption in cricket.
In South East Asia, a report alleges that several Dota 2 teams have been practicing or approached to fix tournaments. Fears grow that competitive videogaming is vulnerable to corruption as markets are growing quicker than any other sports betting. In 2018, around £45bn is expected to be bet on eSports worldwide and at least £120bn by 2020.
In terms of good practices, the Council of Europe calls for the urgent adoption of convention against match-fixing and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) welcomes efforts of member states to adopt resolution 7/8 on corruption in sport. Also, UEFA and the Council of Europe signed a memorandum of understanding which formalizes their cooperation.
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, 25 June 2018.
- Africa Anti-Corruption Anti-Doping Belgium China Council of Europe (COE) Croatia Esports Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) Independent Ethics Committee Football Gambling Ghana International Cricket Council (ICC) Korea (Rep_ of) Match Fixing Sri Lanka Switzerland Tennis UEFA Ukraine Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
