News 19 May 2016

Sports Integrity Briefs – 19 May 2016

• Local newspapers in Singapore are reporting that Sport Singapore, a Singapore Government quango, have filed ‘a police report’ against the President of the Singapore Floorball Association (SFA), Sani Mohamed Salim, over an ‘alleged misappropriation of funds’. The Straight Times reported that a spokesperson for Sport Singapore has said that ‘the matter is now being investigated by the police’. According to the newspaper, Salim is also an employee of Sport Singapore and has since been suspended. The SFA are yet to publish a statement.

• The wife of ‘alleged match-fixing kingpin’ Dan Tan Seet Eng has reportedly admitted to lying to Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) about her knowledge of her former husband’s activities. According to The New Paper, Guan Enmei told the court that she had in fact been aware of her ex-husband’s alleged involvement in match-fixing, despite telling the CPIB otherwise. Guan also admitted giving a false account of her activities in trying to cover up any evidence of her ex-husband’s own activities. Dan Tan was arrested and detained in December last year on match-fixing charges under the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act (CLTPA). He remains under arrest.

Moroccan authorities have reportedly arrested six people as part of a long-running investigation into ‘doping in the country’s track and field federation’. The Royal Moroccan Athletics Federation (FRMA) have not released a statement in response to the press speculation, but according to the Associated Press, a spokesperson for the FRMA said that the arrests has been made after an investigation dating back to 2007, ‘but would not give their identities or other details while the probe is ongoing’. Morocco’s Interior Ministry has also not commented. The FRMA is holding a press conference tomorrow in relation to the next meeting of the IAAF Diamond League in Rabat, due to take place on 22 May. Last month middle-distance runner Abdelhadi Labali was suspended from athletics for two years for an anti-doping rule violation.

• The Sports Minister for the Indian state of Haryana has reportedly said that ‘a high-level inquiry’ will be launched into allegations of ‘corruption, nepotism, mismanagement and financial bungling’ by the Haryana Cricket Association (HCA). According to The Tribune, former India cricketer Chetan Sharma has alleged that the ‘HCA has received funds running into crores [tens of millions of rupees, equivalent to hundreds of thousands of Euros], over the last seven years’. Haryana’s Sports Minister Anil Vij reportedly confirmed that an inquiry would go ahead following a written complaint submitted by Sharma.

Transparency International (TI), a non-governmental organisation that monitors and publicises corporate and political corruption in international development, has reportedly said that it is concerned by the lack of ‘independent oversight at FIFA’ under new President Gianni Infantino. Earlier this week Domenico Scala, the Chairman of FIFA’s Audit and Compliance Committee, resigned after changes at FIFA which he argued ‘eroded the independence of its ethics bodies’. TI said that taking the independence away from FIFA’s ethics bodies is ‘significant primarily because of the way it was done and the message it sends’.

• The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has stopped providing supplements to athletes due to concerns that they might result in athletes reporting positive tests, reports the Business Standard. An athlete camping with the National Institute of Sports (NIS) told the newspaper that the SAI has asked the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to supply the supplements and to check that they are free of prohibited substances. The athlete said that the SAI – which is a governmental authority – does not want to be held responsible for any positive tests as a result of the supplements.

• The French National Olympic Committee (CNOSF) has appointed an integrity delegate for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, as part of the country’s national sports integrity platform, which became operational on 10 May. The delegate will be available for members of the French Olympic team to advise on doping issues and to report attempts at manipulation. The national integrity platform will also operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the Olympics.

• The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has disqualified ‘Nitrogen’ from the Bet365 Novices’ Limited Handicap Steeple Chase and fined his trainer £1,000, after the horse tested positive for butorphanol, an opioid. In a statement, the BHA said that it could not establish that administration of the substance was accidental.

• Julio Rocha, one of the seven FIFA officials arrested in Switzerland following a 47-count indictment issued by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) on 27 May 2015, pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges at a court in New York, Reuters reports. He was charged last year with money laundering and corruption offences in Nicaragua and was extradited from Switzerland to the US just hours before yesterday’s court appearance.

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