Integrity in sports update: IOC and Interpol hold first Partnership Development Meeting
This week has seen a number of court cases for match-fixing taking place not only exposing players but also club owners. In these trials, investigators and prosecutors have managed to expose the extent of organized crime involvement in various sports. The three court cases mentioned in this week’s report involve France, Greece and Spain and cover different sports.
We also see Malta looking at bringing in legislation to protect whistleblowers as a step in fighting corruption in sport and encourage reporting to authorities. Good practice initiatives that took place in Norway and India is also in this week’s Weekly Media Recap.
CURRENT INVESTIGATION
France
The match-fixing trial of handball star Nikola Karabatic opened on Monday in the southern French town of Montpellier. The 31-year-old Barcelona player is accused of being involved in a betting racket for a French championship match in May 2012. Karabatic, who was born in the former Yugoslavia, is appearing with 15 other people. They include his partner Géraldine Pillet, his brother Luka and his partner, Jennifer Priez. Six ex-players from Karabatic's former team Montpellier are also in the dock. Primoz Prost, Dragan Gajic, Samuel Honrubia, Mladen Bojinovic, Mickael Robin and Issam Tej. They deny charges of cheating or plotting to cheat which could lead to five years in jail and a 375,000-euro fine. Prosecutors say bets of more than 100,000 euros were made on the half-time scoreline of a game on 12 May 2012 between Montpellier and Cesson.
Source: "Handball star Karabatic faces judges over match", 15 June 2015, rfi-English news, https://www.english.rfi.fr/sports/20150615-handball-star-karabatic-faces-judges-over-match-fixing
Greece
Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis was banned from participating in football related activities Thursday after his seven-hour testimony before a corruption investigating judge who is looking into a major match-fixing scandal. Judge Giorgos Andreadis with a joint decision from prosecutors on the case also ordered Marinakis to place a 200,000 euros guarantee and informed him that he must report to a local police station every 15 days until a trial. The ship-owner and businessman faces felony charges for his alleged involvement in the establishment of a criminal gang which fixed matches. The investigation is centred on alleged fixing of matches between 2011 and 2013 with relevance to relegation and promotion battles. Marinakis was previously implicated in another match-fixing scandal in 2010-11 which is still the subject of investigation. On Wednesday former football federation president Giorgos Sarris was banned from leaving the country, ordered to place a 50,000 euros guarantee and prohibited from getting involved in football activities of any kind until a trial. Sarris had resigned as president of the federation last December under pressure generated by the match-fixing scandal. He faces felony charges for his alleged involvement in the establishment of a criminal gang which fixed Greek matches.
Source: AFP, "Olympiakos owner Marinakis banned from football activities", 19 June 2015, The Peninsula & AFP, https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/sports/football/344598/olympiakos-owner-marinakis-banned-from-football-activities
