Fifa fund anti-corruption

dedicated anti-corruption unit in Singapore, to help fight match-fixing and illegal betting in football.
The world football governing body also announced the creation of an internal Betting Integrity Investigation Task Force, which will comprise members of Fifa’s Legal Division and Security Department, as well as the Early Warning System GmbH.
Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, made the announcement together with Interpol secretary-general Ronald K. Noble at a media conference in Zurich yesterday.
Fifa are investigating more than 300 matches, spread over three continents, which they believe might have fallen prey to sophisticated match-fixing agents, some of whom operated just a stone’s throw from Wembley Stadium in England.
The Warriors’ unsanctioned trip to the Far East in December 2009 is believed to be part of the matches under the microscope.
“Match-fixing shakes the very foundations of sport, namely fair play, respect and discipline,” Blatter said yesterday.
“That’s why Fifa employs a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to any infringement of these values.”
The Fifa grant is the biggest donation to Interpol, received from a private institution, and it will create an unprecedented 10-year programme, worth millions of euros a year at a dedicated FIFA Anti-Corruption Training Wing within the Interpol Global Complex in Singapore.
Under the agreement, Interpol will receive 4 million euros in each of the first two years, followed by 1.5 million euros in each of the following eight years.
Interpol’s funded initiative will target illegal and irregular betting and match-fixing, the scale of which has been highlighted by recent fixing allegations and the involvement of Asian gambling syndicates in global match-fixing.
Estimates by Interpol’s global law enforcement network show that illegal football gambling is worth up to hundreds of millions of US dollars in Asia alone each year.
The initiative will provide cutting-edge training, education and prevention to protect the sport, the players and the fans from fraud and corruption.
“The threat of match-fixing in sport is a major one, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to tackle this threat,” said Blatter.
“In the fight against illegal betting and match-fixing, the preventive measures that can be taken and the protection of the players and the integrity of the game are of the utmost importance.
“Joint work with the authorities and with Interpol is crucial for success, and for this reason we are very pleased to announce this contribution today, which will further enhance our co-operation.”
Interpol boss Noble hailed Fifa and Blatter’s commitment to keeping the world’s most popular and influential sport clean.
“By funding a long-term corruption prevention training programme to be designed and implemented by Interpol – the world’s largest international police institution with 188 member countries – to counter transnational organised crime’s attempts to corrupt the sport and its players, officials and administrators, Fifa has taken a significant step towards ensuring the integrity of football worldwide,” said Noble.
“As Interpol and Fifa look to the future, basing this anti-corruption initiative at Interpol’s upcoming Global Complex in Singapore while delivering training programmes from Interpol’s regional bureaus and offices all over the world will help both Interpol and Fifa achieve their common goal of keeping the world’s most popular sport free of the corrupt influences of transnational organised crime syndicates.
“Illicit betting and match-fixing rings have demonstrated their global reach to fundamentally undermine football from one continent to another by corrupting administrators, officials and players and they require a global response.”
Noble said Singapore was the right place to set up a Fifa Anti-Corruption Unit base.
“I’m not surprised by the efforts of trans-national crime,” Noble said.
“It’s a high profit with a low risk of getting caught and with online bets, there is the opportunity to make huge amounts.
“It’s a perfect mixture of elements for transnational crime.
“Asia is a hotbed of betting and match-fixing and Singapore is among the least corrupt countries on the planet so there may be no better place than to set up this initiative in Singapore.”
Endorsing the initiative, the World Bank’s Vice-President of Integrity, Leonard McCarthy, said: “Corruption should always be offside. Cleaning-up initiatives are a much-needed golden goal against corruption, and an important step toward keeping football worthy of its nickname: the beautiful game.”
Interpol has co-ordinated several successful operations targeting illegal gambling in Asia, with SOGA III, conducted throughout the 2010 Fifa World Cup, involving police across China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, resulting in the arrest of more than 5 000 people with raids conducted on nearly 800 illegal gambling dens which had handled more than US$155 million worth of bets.
The programme will create a continuous learning and operational platform for all officials involved directly or indirectly in international and national football.
It will also deliver regional training and advice at international football events such as the Fifa World Cup and Fifa Club World Cup, as well as at youth competitions ranging from U-17 to U-20 events. – Fifa.com-Reuters.