INTERPOL Integrity in Sport Bi-Weekly Bulletin - 5 February 2019 - 18 February 2019

In terms of investigations, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is looking into potential match-fixing allegations in Kenyan football, including a 2010 World Cup qualifying match. A Nigerian coach revealed that several of his players were approached to fix a game against a Moroccan team during the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League.

In Australia, the Queensland Racing Crime Squad (QRCS) arrested and charged a greyhound trainer under the Racing Integrity Act after being found in possession of performance enhancing drugs. A Nigerian tennis player will serve a three month suspension and pay a fine after admitting to betting breaching. The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association suspended and fined two snooker players following a corruption inquiry.

In Malaysia, more than 1,000 individuals were detained for illegal gambling during a special operation codenamed Ops Limau. Also in Malaysia, a representative of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) stated that greed may be a stronger cause of match-fixing than unpaid wages. In Indonesia, the media reports that 74 fans have been killed in football-related violence since 1994.

The former chief of the Guatemalan Football Federation, who was convicted for extortion and fraud in connection with the FifaGate scandal, was sentenced and fined $350,000. He pleaded guilty in July 2016 to conspiracy to extort and to fraud, in connection with bribes received in exchange for granting media rights and marketing on qualifying matches of Guatemala's team for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

The Australian Government established an agency tasked with fighting doping and other forms of corruption in sport. The new body, Sport Integrity Australia, will combine the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA), the National Integrity of Sport Unit and the national sports integrity functions of Sport Australia. In Spain, the Ministry of Finance has proposed the creation of a new national commission to combat the manipulation of sports competitions and illegal betting.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) brought together over 40 international experts from government, law enforcement (including INTERPOL), sport organizations, academia and the private sector in order to discuss effective mechanisms to promote the reporting of unethical, illicit and illegal activities linked to sport.

In the framework of the Keep Crime out of Sport Plus (KCOOS+) Project, the Council of Europe (CoE) organized a regional seminar focusing on GUAM countries’ (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) cooperation with regards to the Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions (so-called ”Macolin Convention”, CETS 215).

Lastly, INTERPOL was pleased to recently welcome representatives of the POINTS Project for an educational seminar on competition manipulation at its headquarters in Lyon, France.

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, 4 March 2019.

Tuesday, 19 February 2019