INTERPOL Integrity in Sport Bi-Weekly Bulletin - 2 July 2019 - 15 July 2019

In Indonesia, a court sentenced to jail six people, including a former referee and members of the national soccer association, in the country’s first trial over match-fixing, which was connected to a game in Indonesia’s third tier league in 2018. The suspects were charged under the country’s fraud statute that can result in a maximum jail term of three years.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed Skenderbeu’s appeal against a 10-year exclusion from European competitions as judges agreed UEFA’s ban and fine were proportionate and justified. In Belgium, KV Mechelen have won their appeal at the Belgian Arbitration Court for Sports (BAS) and will not be relegated to the second division as the Belgian Football Association had initially ruled.

A former Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) vice-president has been ordered to pay a US$79 million penalty stemming from the FIFA bribery scandal. The 76-year-old is accused of 12 corruption offences, including racketeering, corruption and money laundering but denies wrongdoing.

Topics such as racism and discrimination have been updated in FIFA’s Disciplinary Code. The fight against match manipulation has also been simplified and the Disciplinary Committee is now the only body competent to deal with match manipulation matters at FIFA level.

Thirty-three countries, INTERPOL, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) joined forces in the Europol-coordinated operation Viribus for a massive crackdown on the trafficking of doping materials and counterfeit medicines. The operation, led by the Italian NAS Carabinieri and co-led by the Financial Unit of the Hellenic Police, is the largest action

The International Partnership against Corruption in Sport (IPACS) decided during a meeting of its Steering Committee to set up a new task force in order to increase the cooperation between criminal justice authorities/law enforcement and sport organisations. The new task force will take stock of existing anti-bribery legislation applicable to the private sector, and create a list of existing networks of judicial authorities / law enforcement agencies through which its work could be supported and promoted.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding aiming at strengthening their collaboration on promoting ethics, integrity and good governance, as well as peace and sustainable development in sport.

Lastly, INTERPOL and the IOC have conducted a Law Enforcement Investigators’ Training for agencies across the Nordic-Baltic region, with a focus on sports and competition manipulation, transnational investigations, evidence collection and evaluation, betting monitoring and working with sports authorities. The two-day training brought together 40 representatives from law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies in Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden.

We welcome submissions on best practices, major developments, new trends and relevant articles for publication in the bulletin.

The next bi-weekly bulletin will be circulated on Monday, 29 July 2019.

Tuesday, 16 July 2019