INTERPOL Integrity in Sport Bi-Weekly Bulletin - 8 January 2019 - 21 January 2019
An unfolding and ongoing investigation in the match fixing activities of an organized crime group focusing on tennis, and with the heads based in Belgium, now covers Bulgaria, Slovakia, Germany, the Netherlands, France, the United States and Belgium. Over the last two weeks, four players were taken into custody in France, and 15 arrests were made in Spain.
In Indonesia, the chairman of the national Football Federation announced his resignation following an ongoing investigation on manipulation in football.
In Belgium, the Gaming Commission is investigating the gambling behavior of hockey players. In Sri Lanka, the International Cricket Council has granted an unprecedented fifteen-day amnesty to individuals to report corrupt conduct in and around cricket.
The Tennis Integrity Unit suspended 28-year old Chilean tennis player Cristobal Saavedra-Corvalan for two and a half years and fined him $8,000 after being found guilty of failing to co-operate with a Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) investigation. You can also find a link to the 2018 Annual Review of the activities of the TIU.
Meanwhile, French investigators are conducting a corruption probe that now targets the President of the Japanese Olympic Committee, in relation to the 2020 Olympics bidding contest. In Sri Lanka, the sports minister claimed he was offered a bribe to include certain players to the national team.
In the world of anti-doping, WADA stated it has successfully retrieved data from the Moscow Laboratoy in order to complete its probe into state-sponsored doping in Russia. The IOC expressed disappointment with a Swiss Federal Court Tribunal decision to clear Russian champion skier Alexander Legkov of doping and return his 2014 Sochi Olympics medals. Finally, the MPCC, Mouvement Pour un Cyclisme Credible, has released the results of a study <https://www.mpcc.fr/index.php/en/news-uk/item/742-doping-figures-for-2019> that compiles doping and corruption cases across different sports.
The Asian Racing Federation has published a white paper covering the societal, economical and sporting integrity impact in Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and South Korea. In every jurisdiction, illegal betting was found to be large and growing, as well as its associated negative impacts on sports integrity, money laundering and other criminality.
Finally, A Ghanaian undercover journalist has been shot dead while driving home, after a politician called for retribution against him. He was a member of Tiger Eye Private Investigations and had investigated corruption in Ghana's football leagues.
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 February 2019.
- 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics Anti-Corruption Anti-Doping Asian Racing Federation Australia Belgium Biathlon Bribes Chile Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) Cricket Football Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) France Ghana Hong Kong Independent Anti-Corruption Hearing Officer (AHO) Indonesia International Cricket Council (ICC) International Olympic Committee (IOC) Japan Match Fixing Moscow New Zealand Russia Singapore South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Tennis Tennis Anti-Corruption Program (TACP) Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) Winter Olympics World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
