Newsgroup: it.hobby.totoscommesse
Titolo: Calcioscommesse svizzero

Nov 8, 2012 - 14:38
Match-fixing trial kicks off
 
The ex-goalie from FC Gossau arrives in court (Keystone)
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A trial has opened in Switzerland involving three Swiss League football 
players and an intermediary, accused of being part of one of the 
biggest match-fixing scandals in European football history.
 
Two former goalkeepers for FC Gossau, a second-division side from 
canton St Gallen, appeared before the Federal Criminal Court in 
Bellinzona on Thursday.
 
The men are accused of being complicit in professional fraud for their 
involvement in an international match-fixing and illegal betting ring.
 
In November 2009, news broke that investigators working for the public 
prosecutors’ office in the German city of Bochum had identified 200 
matches in nine European countries – Austria, Belgium, 
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Switzerland 
and Turkey – where manipulation was believed to have taken place.
 
In all, 22 Swiss league matches and six friendlies were thought to have 
been rigged.
 
In 2009, one of the keepers allegedly became a recruiter and 
intermediary within the gang. He supposedly contacted FC Gossau team 
mates to discuss tactics just before kick-off.
 
At the opening of the trial he admitted attempts were made to 
manipulate matches and that he had received money to this effect. But 
he said as a goalkeeper he had always given his best during games. His 
co-defendant rejected the accusations and denied involvement in any 
fixing.
 
Thursday’s trial concerns five Challenge League matches in 2009, which 
are said to have been fixed: FC Gossau - FC Locarno (0-4), FC Servette 
- FC Gossau (4-0) in May; FC Lugano - FC Gossau (7-0) in September, and 
FC Gossau - FC Vaduz (1-4) in November.
 
A fifth match between FC Locarno and FC Gossau in August was also 
allegedly rigged.
 
International betting ring
An international gang used European-Asian betting platforms to place 
bets just before each game. Informers helped control the match result 
and buy players.
 
Thursday’s trial will be followed on November 12 by two other trials 
involving a former FC Thun goalkeeper and a recruiter for the fixing 
ring. The four defendants are accused of receiving between 
SFr1,700-12,000 ($1,800-12,700) for their participation.
 
Verdicts are expected on November 13.
 
In 2011, a Bochum court sentenced a Croat living in Berlin to 
five-and-a-half years in prison for professional fraud as head of the 
international match-fixing ring.
 
The Swiss Football Association was the first federation to sanction 
football players with alleged ties to the ring. Nine Swiss League 
players – seven professionals and two amateurs from Thun, Gossau, 
Fribourg and Wil – were suspended for at least one year in May 2010.
 
New report
The Bellinzona trials come as the Swiss cabinet presented a new report 
on the fight against corruption and match-fixing in sport on Wednesday.
 
Measures are currently being examined to make fraud in sport a criminal 
offence, which may involve the tightening of Swiss corruption 
legislation. The justice ministry and sports office have been requested 
to come up with specific changes to Swiss law.
 
The long-awaited 70-page report said anti-corruption measures currently 
taken by international sports associations were insufficient and “more 
robust action” was needed.
 
Switzerland is currently home to over 40 international sports 
federations such as Fifa, football’s world governing body, Uefa, its 
European counterpart, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
 
The authorities must examine whether members of national and 
international sport associations based in Switzerland should be made 
subject to the Swiss criminal law on corruption.
 
The report also called for “harmonised and binding” good governance 
systems.
 
“What is at stake is not just sport's integrity but also Switzerland's 
reputation as the home to numerous international sports associations,” 
the government said in a statement.
 
Fifa reaction
In a statement on Thursday, Fifa said it considered the efforts made by 
the government to support sports associations and organisations in the 
fight against corruption and match-fixing as a positive sign for the 
protection of the integrity of sport and its environment.
 
The complexity of the problems inherent in fighting corruption and 
match-fixing called for systematic self-regulation as well as state 
measures, it added.
 
“Fifa recognises the need for action at state level and is pleased to 
note that the measures it has implemented as part of its reform process 
are mentioned in the report as a milestone,” it said in the statement.
 
swissinfo.ch
 and agencies
 
-- 
no acuagim, gnente acua - soeo gin
6/5/2012 TRIESTE - IO C'ERO  ***
 
 

 manipulation was believed to have taken place.
 
l'acqua calda.