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Basketball officials, athletes bet on fixed games through Greek accounts

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Those involved in a match-fixing scandal in Cyprus’ top basketball league bet on the games through accounts based in Greece, according to an inquiry committee tasked to investigate corruption in the sport.

The investigating officials identified three games that took place in the 2020-2021 season as fixed in a 500-page report that was submitted to the Committee for Ethics and Protection of Sports on Tuesday.

The games in question are ENAD-APOEL, ENAD-APOP AND APOP-ENAD.

The games had been flagged as suspicious following increased betting activity. According to the report’s findings, persons involved in the sport bet large amounts of money, mainly concerning the score difference in the three games.

The inquiry committee also examined video footage from the games and concluded that the performance of some players was affected.

For the ENAD-APOEL game, the investigating officials determined it was fixed and suggested those involved face criminal charges.

In the other two games, the bets were placed through companies based in Asia, therefore the investigating officials asked for the police’s assistance to obtain more evidence.

Talking to ACTIVE Radio on Tuesday, the president of the Cyprus Basketball Federation Andreas Mouzourides said that the complaint for the fixed games was submitted to the Committee for Ethics and Protection of Sports by the Federation.

Regarding the inquiry’s conclusion, Mouzourides said: “We separate the conclusions into two parts: The criminal liabilities will be handled by the police. The second part is the sporting liabilities, which fall on the Federation to act on, in the case that it is ascertained that sporting officials were involved”.

Asked to comment on the report’s findings which place blame on the Federation for the lack of checks on athletes and other officials, Mouzourides said that they will review the suggestions and make improvements where needed.

Read more:

Inquiry finds match-fixing prevalent in basketball

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