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Belgian football clubs raided as part of fraud and match-fixing inquiry Authorities charge five in Belgian football corruption claims
(1 day later)
Belgian authorities have carried out a series of raids and arrests at football clubs across the country linked to investigations into financial fraud and possibly match-fixing. Belgian authorities have charged five people in relation to a massive financial fraud and match-fixing inquiry into football.
The federal prosecutor’s office said 44 raids were being held in Belgium and 13 more in France, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia. Four were charged with belonging to a criminal organisation while a fifth person was charged with money laundering. Prosecutors said match-fixing allegations centred on the relegation battle from the top division last season and did not involve a major club.
The prosecutor’s statement said a year-long investigation shows evidence of “suspect financial operations” by sports agents and indications “of possible influencing of games” over the last season. Because of the size of the scandal, Belgium’s second division scrapped this weekend’s games. There are no fixtures in the first division because a series of international matches are slated, with Belgium taking on Switzerland on Friday.
“Match-fixing undermines the integrity of sports. The Justice Department is working for a fair sport,” justice minister Koen Geens said. The financial fraud revolved around two agents, Mogi Bayat and Dejan Veljkovic, who had contacts with many of the leading clubs, including Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Standard Liege. Accusations surround tax evasion and illegal personal enrichment.
The inquiry comes only three months after Belgium’s national team reached the World Cup semi-finals and beat England to finish third at the tournament in Russia. Ivan Leko, coach of Belgian champion Club Brugge and a friend of Veljkovic, was released on Thursday after spending a night in jail and facing police questioning, according to his lawyer.
According to local media, Belgium’s best known agent, the Brugge coach Ivan Leko and a former Anderlecht club official were among those being questioned. The Belgian football federation announced that the two referees mentioned in the prosecutor’s report on match-fixing had been immediately suspended.
“Agents, referees, a former lawyer, an accounting office, jewellers, journalists” were among those hit by the raids, authorities said without specifying names. The year-long inquiry focussed on suspect financial operations by sports agents on transfers, including tax evasion, money laundering and private corruption. It was only during the inquiry that investigators said they also found indications of match-fixing during last season’s relegation battle.
The investigation centres on “activities relating to a criminal organisation, money laundering and private corruption,” the prosecutor’s office said. Nine Belgian clubs were raided as well as the homes of six club officials, four agents and two referees. The scandal took the country largely by surprise and immediately put a dampener on the upbeat spirit created by Belgium’s third-place finish at the World Cup.
The raids involved 184 police officials in Belgium and 36 in the other countries. Belgium defender Vincent Kompany said he was not surprised by the developments because the transfer industry has too long been veiled in secrecy instead of openness.“The thing I don’t get is that, internationally, it has not yet become totally transparent,” Kompany told VTM network.
The statement said some football agents, independent from one another, “would have schemed to hide” transfer commissions, payments of players and coaches, and other payments from the Belgian authorities, causing tax losses. The Belgian league, in which none of its World Cup stars play, has over the years become a prime market to dump cheap foreign, often African, talent. Only a few of them make it to the major leagues. Claims of human trafficking over the years have increased.
It was during the investigation, the prosecutor’s office said, that indications appeared that there may have been match-fixing during the 2017-18 season. The investigation shows Belgian soccer is unhealthy, Kompany said.“If you talk about the soccer sector, you cannot be surprised,” Kompany said. “The link with human trafficking, the drug trade and prostitution, where a lot of money goes around, is very close.”
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