UK: Organized Crime Active in World Sport, Official Charges

Published: 08 October 2014

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A quarter of world sport is controlled by organized crime, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) director general told a London conference on Oct. 7.

New Zealander David Howman stated at the Security Sport 2014 conference that the same people who distribute performance-enhancing drugs are paying others to fix games.

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The theme of the conference session, also attended by Barry Hearn, chairman of World Snooker, and Michael Hershman, founder of Transparency International, was “To whom is sport accountable? A transparency body for sport.,” reports Inside The Games Hearn said that this is a monetary war, one in which “violence and corruption go hand in hand.”

Howman said that whether you call it bribery or match fixing, it is organized crime. The director urged everyone active in the fight against organized crime to fend off the “bad guys” by coming together under the auspices of WADA to make a plan, reports the New York Post.

Sports that fall under the umbrella of organized crime are mostly below the elite level, reports ESPN. Howman maintains that failing to take actions against the problem now will only allow it to worsen in the future. 

Interpol has the investigations to back Howman’s extraordinary claims.