Sports betting and corruption: How to preserve the - SportAccord

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Sports betting and corruption: How to preserve the integrity of sport impossible to discover the full reality of the economic activities of this type of organisation; analysis always helps to establish an order of magnitude however. Criminal organisations therefore have a strategic need to launder their money and, as explained by the FATF report on money-laundering in the world of sport (2009, op. cit.), football is a sector that is favourable to the Mafia s financial activities. What forms do these Mafia investments take in the world of football? “The wolf in sheep’s clothing”, or criminals taking control of clubs In December 2010, the leak of American diplomatic documents by Wikileaks revealed a report by the US Embassy in Sofia (Bulgaria) entitled Bulgarian soccer receives a red card for corruption 49 . The report reveals that: “Bulgarian soccer clubs are widely believed to be directly or indirectly controlled by organized crime figures who use their teams as a way to legitimize themselves, launder money, and make a fast buck. [...] Today, nearly all of the teams are owned or have been connected to organized crime figures [...] allegations of illegal gambling, match fixing, money laundering, and tax evasion plague the league.” There is a historic example that helps to give a clear understanding of the Mafias interest in controlling clubs. This is the case of Arkan, an eminent member of the Milosevic regime in former Jugoslavia, who used the club Obilic FK to spearhead his criminal activities, which were as many as they were varied 50 . At the end of the 1980s, Arkan was the leader of a group of hooligans connected with the Red Star Belgrade club: he subsequently transformed this ultra-violent group into a paramilitary militia, which committed serious acts of violence during the Jugoslavian wars 51 . The Arkan Tigers militia was dissolved in April 1996 following the Dayton agreements. Two months later, Arkan bought FK Obilic, which he transformed into a top-ranking club, even winning the Jugoslavian championship in 1998. US journalist Franklin Foer 52 relates the various techniques used by the club chairman to win victories: corruption, threats etc. Supporter groups were composed of former members of the militia, who had no qualms about pointing their guns at opposing players and making personal threats (sometimes in the form of chants). Arkan regularly paid personal visits to opposing teams in their changing rooms at half time, to order them to allow Obilic to win. One player told how he had been taken away and locked up while his team was playing Obilic ... so it is not all that surprising that in the space of one season, Obilic FK became Champion of Jugoslavia! Owning the club enabled Arkan to launder a large amount of capital via ticket sales, sponsorship, player transfers and sports betting. International matches also enabled him to organise illegal traffic (arms, narcotics), sporting delegations only very rarely being searched by Customs. Even though he had to transfer ownership of the club to his wife in 1998 because UEFA was threatening to exclude the club from European competitions, Arkan took advantage of football to extend his popularity whilst continuing to promote and grow his illegal activities. 49 The cable and references in full: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=123740 50 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,1123137,00.html 51 Christopher Stewart, Hunting the Tiger: the Fast Life and Violent Death of the Balkans Most Dangerous Man, Thomas Dunne Books, 336p, January 2008. 52 Franklin Foer, How Football Explains the World : an Unlikely Theory of Globalization, Harper Collins, 2004 28
Sports betting and corruption: How to preserve the integrity of sport Another example that perfectly illustrates the benefits of acquiring a club is that of Chinese businessman Zheyun Ye, who took possession of a Finnish, then a Belgian, club in 2004-2005, with the aim of organising rigged matches and enriching himself on the sports betting market. First, he bought Finnish club AC Allianssi, where he placed two of his close henchmen (Thierry Pister and Olivier Suray). A number of Belgian players were also transferred to the club and took part in a rigged match (0-8!) against Finnish club FC Haka in July 2005. The Finnish Federation and police very quickly opened an inquiry and fined the club 10,000 for not having played its best team. Zheyun Ye then returned to Belgium (where he had already tried to make contact with clubs) and became actively involved in two clubs in particular: Lierse and La Louviere. Whilst in Belgium he organised 10 rigged matches, including Lierse-La Louviere (7-0) in 2005, with the aim of enriching himself on the Asian betting market. But according to the Belgian Public Prosecutor s Office, Lierse and La Louviere were not the only clubs in which Zheyun Ye was active as far as betting was concerned. During the following season (2005-2006), an FC Brussels player accepted money to manipulate the result of the match on 20 September between his own club and KAA Gent. A player for Saint-Trond was persuaded - by a La Louviere official - to rig the Saint-Trond - Louviere match on 29 October 2005. During the same period, 13 other players were approached with promises of gifts of up to 100,000 if they would ease up on the pitch during certain matches. These players declined the offer. The authorities were alerted by the online betting site Betfair, which detected abnormally high betting on the Saint-Trond - La Louviere and Cercle de Bruges - Saint-Trond games. Legal proceedings were instituted and the trial in the magistrates court (involving 31 people) has yet to take place, while an international warrant has been issued for the arrest of Zheyun Ye. Although Zheyun Ye was in fact arrested by the police, he was released several hours later due to a police-legal muddle. Since then, he has totally vanished from the scene 53 . The ease with which this criminal entrepreneur could infiltrate Belgian football circles is a matter for concern, all the more so as his action was copied by another fraudulent investor several years later. Revealed during the investigation for the Bochum trial, an instance of corruption in the club UR Namur - at that time playing in Belgium s Second Division - reveals the fragility of the world of football in the face of Mafia intrigues. The chairman of UR Namur, Jean-Claude Baudart, was seeking a rescuer/buyer for the club, which was in serious financial difficulty, but all his efforts failed. He then turned to a Croatian investor living in Germany, Marijo Cvrtak. On 22 January 2009, Chairman Baudard and Marijo Cvrtak concluded an agreement whereby the Croatian would pay 100,000 followed by two tranches of 50,000 over the space of four months. Cvrtak also agreed to take over the club s debts, amounting to 700,000, in exchange for a place on the Club Board, where he was introduced as the club s saviour. In order to give credibility to his arrival, Cvrtak invented a false Slovakian sports management company, BTC Sport Management. Now solidly established within the club s management, Cvrtak brought seven players into the club, whose salaries he lent and whom he knew to be corruptible. Two of these players went on to play a major part in rigging matches: Serb Nemanja Cvetkovic and Bosnian Dragan Bubic. The latter was hired to buy other teammates. In any event, his transfer did not really comply with the criteria for a sportsman because the club s medical team judged him to be 29 kilos too heavy to be competitive! Six players were eventually involved, their bonuses generally amounting to 2,000 for 53 http://sportmagazine.levif.be/sport/actualite/affaire-ye-le-principal-suspect-vivrait-sans-se-cacher/article- 1194809714946.htm 29
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