Monday, February 4, 2013

European match-fixing probe: 380 suspicious games

Britain's Rob Wainwright, director of the European police agency Europol, elaborates on findings of a probe into match fixing during a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday Feb. 4, 2013. The European police agency is unveiling results of a major investigation across the continent into match fixing in football, including what it is calling "top international games." The presentation will likely be one of the most comprehensive overviews yet of rigging games. Investigators from Germany, Finland, Hungary and Slovenia are presenting the results of probes into the murky world of fixing matches and the huge sums of money involved. Football already has been rocked by several match-fixing cases, most notably in Germany and Italy. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Britain's Rob Wainwright, director of the European police agency Europol, elaborates on findings of a probe into match fixing during a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday Feb. 4, 2013. The European police agency is unveiling results of a major investigation across the continent into match fixing in football, including what it is calling "top international games." The presentation will likely be one of the most comprehensive overviews yet of rigging games. Investigators from Germany, Finland, Hungary and Slovenia are presenting the results of probes into the murky world of fixing matches and the huge sums of money involved. Football already has been rocked by several match-fixing cases, most notably in Germany and Italy. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Germany's Andreas Bachmann of the Bochum prosecution service, is seen during a press conference on match fixing in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday Feb. 4, 2013. The European police agency is unveiling results of a major investigation across the continent into match fixing in football, including what it is calling "top international games." The presentation will likely be one of the most comprehensive overviews yet of rigging games. Investigators from Germany, Finland, Hungary and Slovenia are presenting the results of probes into the murky world of fixing matches and the huge sums of money involved. Football already has been rocked by several match-fixing cases, most notably in Germany and Italy. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Britain's Rob Wainwright, second from left, director of the European police agency Europol, elaborates on findings of a probe into match fixing during a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday Feb. 4, 2013. The European police agency is unveiling results of a major investigation across the continent into match fixing in football, including what it is calling "top international games." From left to right are Friedhelm Althans, chief investigator Buchum police, germany, Wainwright, Andreas Bachmann Bochum prosecution service, Germany. and Ari Karvonen, head of the organized crome investigation, Finland. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Britain's Rob Wainwright, director of the European police agency Europol, elaborates on findings of a probe into match fixing during a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday Feb. 4, 2013. The European police agency is unveiling results of a major investigation across the continent into match fixing in football, including what it is calling "top international games." The presentation will likely be one of the most comprehensive overviews yet of rigging games. Investigators from Germany, Finland, Hungary and Slovenia are presenting the results of probes into the murky world of fixing matches and the huge sums of money involved. Football already has been rocked by several match-fixing cases, most notably in Germany and Italy. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) ? A wide-ranging match-fixing investigation has uncovered more than 380 suspicious matches ? including World Cup and European Championship qualifiers and two Champions League games ? and found evidence that a Singapore-based crime group is closely involved in match-fixing.

"This is a sad day for European football," Rob Wainwright, head of the European Union police organization Europol, said Monday, referring to the sport Americans call soccer. He said the investigation uncovered "match-fixing activity on a scale we have not seen before."

The probe uncovered ?8 million ($10.9 million) in betting profits and ?2 million ($2.7 million) in bribes to players and officials and has already led to several prosecutions.

Wainwright said the involvement of organized crime "highlights a big problem for the integrity of football in Europe."

He said a Singapore-based criminal network was involved in the match fixing, spending up to ?100,000 ($136,500) per match to bribe players and officials.

It was not immediately clear how many of the matches mentioned Monday have been revealed in previous match-fixing investigations in countries including Germany and Italy.

Wainwright and other officials and prosecutors declined to identify any of the suspects, players or matches involved, citing their ongoing investigations.

He said while many fixed matches were already known, the Europol investigation lifted the lid on the widespread involvement or organized crime in rigging games.

"This is the first time we have established substantial evidence that organized crime is now operating in the world of football," he said.

Wainwright said there is now a "concerted effort" across the soccer world to tackle the corruption.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-04-Match%20Fixing/id-ed83fc7c9c5943a7959165e616b8fa61

peter frampton smokey robinson smokey robinson Sandy Hook Elementary School Colors Cassadee Pope Victoria Soto nbc sports

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.