FIFTY nine cases of suspected match-fixing remained open, Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou said on Friday, as authorities had no concrete evidence beyond the fact that there was suspicious betting activity in each one.
Nicolaou was speaking after a meeting he had convened with football authorities to discuss the issue of match-fixing in light of the large number of notices (files) received from the European football administrative body UEFA.
“I judged that it was appropriate to convene a meeting with the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) to exchange views regarding the measures that could be put in place with the aim of acting more drastically in investigating and preventing these phenomena,” Nicolaou said.
To date, 59 cases (games) relating to suspect games remained open. Out of those, 21 alone concerned this season’s championship, with 16 referring to games played in 2016.
“It is a worrying situation, a large number of files,” the minister said.
Each time suspicious betting activity is noticed in a game, UEFA notifies the football authorities of the country in question.
Nicolaou said authorities had no specific report regarding any unlawful acts.
“From the information regarding the betting activity, it does not mean, or directly prove that it is a fixed game,” he said.
He said they agreed with the CFA to explore various possibilities in co-operation with UEFA, to be applied during the new season.
Nicolaou said their request was to go as far as relegating a team, which continuously displayed suspicious behaviour “with the aim of making it clear to all that the association shows zero tolerance to such phenomena.”
The CFA said it will look into the request.
The ministry will also explore the possibility of making it a criminal offence for club officials and players to take part in betting concerning their team.
Nicolaou also bemoaned the relative lack of tools to investigate such cases.
“Unfortunately, it was determined once more that to make the investigation of such cases more effective it is necessary to reinforce the means the police has at its disposal,” he said, adding that police should be allowed to eavesdrop on phone communications, under strict conditions.
Late in December 2014, a young international referee went public with allegations that match-fixing was rife in Cypriot football.
Marios Panayi even mentioned names and later provided the authorities with what he thought was enough evidence to at least start a serious investigation into his claims.
In December 2014, European match-fixing watchdog Federbet general secretary Francesco Baranca told the Cyprus Mail that they had been keeping an eye on Cyprus for some time.
“We are closely monitoring the situation on the island because of the many irregularities when it came to betting. It is clear to us that there is a deep problem. From the data we gathered, we can safely assume that something is wrong.”
Panayi claimed that he had in his possession recorded conversations, documents and other evidence, exposing people within the CFA as the ones “running the show” when it comes to local football.
He handed the evidence over to the authorities, but nothing has happened, ostensibly because it cannot be used in court.
The referee claimed that the CFA appoints referees who are willing to shape the game’s outcome and that they are the ones who decide which teams are relegated.
Panayi named CFA’s deputy chairman Giorgos Koumas as the man pulling the strings, that he is the one who decides on referee appointments and that he has close ties to football clubs and political parties.
