December 9 – Five of the 10 football clubs in the Moldovan top flight have been involved in match-fixing linked to organised crime this season, Europol has said.
Europol has been working with the Moldovan National Anticorruption Centre to uncover match-fixing within the league with organised crime suspected of profiting by more than €500,000 via betting on about 20 matches in the Asian markets.
“Club executives, coaches, managers, football players and other intermediates are believed to be part of the network,” said Europol in a statement. “Overall, the criminal profits are estimated at €600 000. Links to EU member states have been also detected. The investigation is ongoing.”
On Monday, four arrests were made as club offices across the country were raided. In total, 34 houses were searched and 20 mobile phones, documents and bank cards seized.
Europol said that it “provided operational support by deploying two experts to Moldova to crosscheck operational information against Europol’s databases and provide links to investigators in the field.”
Sheriff Tiraspol currently lead the domestic table with 55 points from 20 games and a goal difference of +48. They are one of the clubs implicated in the match fixing scandals.
Contact the writer of this story. Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1711633667labto1711633667ofdlr1711633667owedi1711633667sni@o1711633667fni1711633667