A group of experts calling for an "international platform" to coordinate efforts said that recent scandals that have hit French football "show that sports authorities alone cannot fight corruption," according to Julien Pretot of REUTERS. On Tuesday, the presidents of Ligue 1 Caen and Ligue 2 Nimes plus Ligue 2 Dijon coach Olivier Dall'Oglio "were in custody for alleged match-fixing in second division
games last season." In a separate affair, Marseille President Vincent Labrune and his Dir General Philippe Perez as well as former President Jean-Claude Dassier, "were arrested and held for questioning as part of a probe into player transfers." The Int'l Centre for Sport Security said in a statement on Wednesday, "Such investigations should be carried out by law enforcement agencies, not sports organisations. As a result, these cases echo the urgent need to establish an international platform that is able to act as a focal point to coordinate law enforcement, sport and
gaming regulators and to better understand the global and political threat to sport." On Wednesday, French weekly Le Canard Enchaine "published the transcripts of wire taps that suggest Ligue 2
games were fixed." The match-fixing scandal "has come to light as a result of an investigation into a
gaming circle led by Serge Kasparian, one of Nimes's main shareholders" (
REUTERS, 11/19). L'EQUIPE wrote French Secretary of State for Sports Thierry Braillard "broke his silence on the two cases that are rattling French football." Braillard: “French football is in shock. … I share the anger of (French Football League President) Frederic Thiriez, who responded very well. But now, like he said, we must leave it to the police and the justice system. It’s now in the hands of the police…there are principles that we must remember: the presumption of innocence. We must allow the justice system and the police to work without any worries…no one has the right, and certainly not a minister, to intervene while people are currently in custody and an investigation is to be surely launched” (
L’EQUIPE, 11/18).
