Ethics committee to investigate four top-flight flagged matches (Update)

The sports ethics committee appointed four investigators on Tuesday, tasked with looking into four top-flight matches, which were played in the last fortnight following claims of suspicious betting activity.

Vice president of the committee Akis Efthymiou told CyBC radio that four red notices, for increased betting activity had been sent by European football’s governing body Uefa.

The flagged games, played in the last fortnight, were Olympiakos v Doxa, Olympiakos v Akritas Chlorakas, Paralimni v Ael and Omonia v Aek, Efthymiou said.

Following a meeting, the committee appointed Charilaos Chrysanthou, Anna Sotiriou, Nicolas Koursaris and Elias Lampides, to investigate the respective game.

The claim came as former member of the sport ethics committee Haris Savvides, who had spoken about 16 red notices received from Uefa during a discussion of the matter at the legislature. He present evidence amounting to over 400 pages about these to the  committee on Tuesday evening.

Two investigators were appointed to explore the notices though they will be named on Friday during the next slated sports ethics committee, once the task for the investigators is set in stone.

Savvides, a lawyer, had told the House ethics committee last week that red notices had been sent by Uefa, concerning 11 football matches involving first division team Karmiotissa and five involving second division this Ermis Aradippou.

None of these notices were investigated either by the committee or by the Cyprus Football Federation, Kop. One involved the Karmiotissa match which former president Nicos Anastasiades had allegedly urged the president of the sports ethics committee at the time not to investigate. Anastasiades denied ever making such a call.

According to statements made by members of the sports ethics committee, a 45-day limit to wrap up the investigative operation will also be set.

During last week’s House ethics committee meeting, Savvides also contradicted Kop president Giorgos Koumas, who claimed that Uefa only sent two red notices for games involving Karmiotissa and Ermis Aradippou.

Savvides also said that based on Kop’s regulation Karmiotissa should have been struck off the league for featuring in 11 flagged games.

Match fixing was also touched upon by President Nikos Christodoulides last Sunday, when he gave Aris Limassol the trophy the league championship, won by the club for first time in its history.

“What I ask is for everyone to work together in the same direction,” he said. “Firstly, we need to avoid incidents in the stadiums, and secondly, no more legal cases and red notices from Uefa. This honours no-one.”