Basketball match fixing report will be handed to attorney general

The sports ethics committee on Wednesday fully accepted the findings of a report on game fixing within basketball and will be forwarding the case to the attorney-general’s office for further review.

An investigation had been ordered in early 2022 on three basketball games that took place in the 2021-2022 first division championship, specifically Enad-Apoel, Enad-Apop, and Apop-Enad.

Its conclusion, which was delivered last week, is more than 500 pages long and includes extensive witness statements, and scathing commentary on the basketball federation’s role and the control it failed to exercise over certain sports personalities.

The games had been flagged following intense betting activity observed by the company with which the federation is contracted. It appeared that various bets were regularly placed by specific individuals and mainly concerned the score difference between the two teams.

In a written statement published after the review of the report, the committee announced that it accepts its findings.

For the Enad-Apoel game, the investigating officials determined it had been fixed by specific persons, and suggested they be prosecuted.

For the Enad-Apop and Apop-Enad games, game fixing was also observed, but due to the complexity of the system no specific people were identified.

The officials were able to identify the people involved in the Enad-Apoel betting as they had made their bets in Cyprus, where they had to give their details, but the rest of the bets were placed with companies based in Asia, which allowed them to slip through the cracks.

For this reason, the officials recommended that the authorities continue with their own investigations.

During the review, the committee established prima facie the possible commission of both criminal offenses and disciplinary offences against a number of persons and decided to forward the case to the attorney-general.

It was also decided that a synopsis of the report will be compiled and sent to the basketball federation which will decide on disciplinary action with regards to violation of its code.

Finally, the committee thanked the federation for its “excellent cooperation,” with both the committee and the investigating officers.

“In any case, we are obliged to publicise that the conclusion does not attribute any form of responsibility to the Cyprus Basketball Federation and/or its officials,” the statement concluded.