Weekly integrity in sport update from INTERPOL 30 November 2015 - 6 December 2015

In the current Weekly Media Recap, we see the match-fixing suspect Dan Tan being re-arrested by the Singaporean authorities for suspected involvement in criminal activities, after the Court of Appeal ordered his release from previous detention.

Another investigation being reported in Greece related to prosecutors taking bribes, who were involved in the decision not to prosecute Olympiacos.

CURRENT INVESTIGATION

Greece

The Greek public prosecutors who decided not to pursue charges against Olympiacos in the so-called Koriopolis match-fixing scandal have been accused of accepting bribes. The mayor of Volos and owner of Olympiacos Volou, Achilleas Beos – who is one of 85 defendants in the trial alleges that Panagiotis Pouliou, a deputy public prosecutor, and Giannis Tzimplakis, who chaired the three-man panel of judges that determined who should be prosecuted, accepted bribes. Beos claims that the purpose of the bribes, paid, he says, by a member of the Panathinaikos board, was to ensure Evangelos Marinakis would not be prosecuted in the trial. Marinakis is the owner of Panathinaikos’ Athens’ rivals Olympiacos. Despite figuring prominently in the files of evidence, he was not formally charged. Beos claimed there were “significant suspicions of events that can reasonably and clearly… justify a bias in favour of one of my co-defendants, who [was] eventually acquitted.” He added: “Under Article 237 Penal Code, if anyone who is called by law to perform judicial functions … requested or obtained, directly or through a third party, for himself or for another, any kind of unfair benefit for action or omission, in future or already completed, relating to the execution of their duties in the administration of justice or to resolve a dispute, shall be punished with imprisonment and a fine of EUR 15000-150000.” Pouliou and Tzimplakis have not commented on Beos’s claim. There have been unconfirmed reports in Greece that the prosecutor of the Athens Supreme Court, Efterpi Koutzamani, has opened an investigation into the case following Beos’s allegations. The Koriopolis trial is currently scheduled to take place in April 2016.

Source: AP, "Judges accused of taking bribes in Greek match-fixing scandal", 2 December 2015, World Soccer, https://www.worldsoccer.com/news/judges-accused-of-taking-bribes-in-greek-match-fixing-scandal-366178

Singapore

A decision will be made, one way or another, on what is to be done with him. Described by Interpol as "the leader of the world's most notorious match-fixing syndicate", he has been linked to match- fixing across Europe, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, Turkey and Trinidad and Tobago. In a post on Facebook, he also said: "Some media reports had inaccurately given the impression that the re-arrest goes against the judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal". However, police issued a terse statement late Tuesday confirming Tan had been rearrested six days after he was freed "for investigations into suspected involvement in criminal activities". "If Singaporean law doesn't fit a modern world, Singapore must fix it now so that it does, just like Dan Tan fixed football matches". He was held under a law that allows for indefinite detention without trial if it's in the interest of public safety, but the Singapore Court of Appeal on November 25 ruled that public safety was not at risk and ordered Tan's release. Fifa, football's world governing body, said at the time it was disappointed with the decision. Delighted with the arrest, Eaton tweeted on Tuesday: "I hope Dan Tan will be dealt with public investigation & court processes so the realities of the case are open to global scrutiny". Responding to a question during the press conference on whether global pressure played a part in Tan's re-arrest, Mr Shanmugam said: "We don't arrest or release people based on worldwide pressure". The court had ruled last week that Tan's detention under the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act, commonly known as the CLTPA, could not be justified as the grounds for holding him - leading and funding a global match-fixing syndicate - did not comply with the requirements of the Act.

Source: Rudy Delgado, "Police arrest Dan Tan for investigations", 3 December 2015, Observer Voice, https://observervoice.com/2015/12/police-arrest-dan-tan-for-investigations/

Monday, 07 December 2015