The prosecution of the STJD (Superior Court of Sports Justice) rules out the possibility of annulling games in which there are suspicions of manipulation of results. Clashes from Serie A of the 2022 Brazilian Championship and from this year’s state championships are targets of the new phase of Operation Maximum Penalty II, which began this Tuesday (18), an action coordinated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Goiás.
According to the organ, in Serie A games, offers for players to participate in the scheme involving bets revolved around R$ 50,000 per athlete. In the State Championships, the values were around R$70,000 to R$100,000 per player.
“In principle, there is no [de anulação]. There’s nothing you can do about it, Serie A, for example, is over. The involvement is of players, different, for example, from that 2005 case in which it involved arbitration [caso conhecido como Máfia do Apito e que gerou anulação de 11 partidas do Brasileiro daquele ano]”, said to Itatiaia the attorney general of the STJD, Ronaldo Botelho Piacente.
Suspension can reach 720 days
He awaits the submission by the Public Prosecutor of Goiás of the complaint that investigates the suspicion and, based on these documents, the Justice will determine possible denounced in the sporting aspect. Convicted players can be suspended for up to 720 days.
Piacente said that the Public Ministry already collaborates with information sent to the Sports Justice. Among the points that are already known to the prosecution, at the moment there are no managers of investigated clubs, only players.
Based on what we have, the investigation looks into the involvement of players, not clubs. We depend on the information to be able to analyze whether there will be indictments in the sporting sphere
Ronaldo Botelho Piacente, Attorney General of the STJD
The Serie A games of the 2022 Brazilian Championship investigated by the Public Ministry are:
- 11/05/2022 – 36th round – Santos 1 x 1 Avai: attempt to coopt a Santos player with a yellow card
- 11/05/2022 – 36th round – Red Bull Bragantino 1 x 4 América-MG: player enticement to be punished with yellow card
- 11/05/2022 – 36th round – Goiás 1 x 0 Juventude: recruiting two players for yellow card punishments
- 11/06/2022 – 36th round – Cuiabá 1 x 1 Palmeiras: Cuiabá player recruited to be punished with a yellow card
- 11/10/2022 – 37th round – Botafogo 3 x 0 Santos: athlete co-opted for red card punishment
- 09/10/2022 – 26th round – Palmeiras 2 x 1 Juventude: recruiting a player for punishment with a yellow card
List of games investigated in the State of 2023:
- 02/08/2023 – Paulista Championship – Guarani x Portuguesa: attempt to entice an athlete to be punished with a yellow card
- 02/11/2023 – Campeonato Gaúcho – Esportivo Bento Gonçalves x Novo Hamburgo: attempt to entice an athlete from Novo Hamburgo to commit a penalty
- 02/11/2023 – Matogrossense Championship – Luverdense x Operário: attempt to manipulate the number of corners in the match
- 02/12/2023 – Campeonato Goiano – Goiás x Goiânia: players enticed so that Goiânia had a partial defeat by a certain number of goals
- 02/12/2023 – Campeonato Gaúcho – Caxias x São Luiz: attempt to entice a São Luiz athlete to commit a penalty
what is cleared
In the first phase of the operation, the Public Prosecutor’s Office was able to establish that a criminal group acted with professional players offering amounts from R$ 50,000 to R$ 100,000 for them to participate in certain events. The bets involved the number of corner kicks in the game, cards, penalties and even the defeat score of a certain team at halftime.
“There are indications that the conduct previously requested from players is aimed at enabling those investigated to achieve large profits in bets placed on sports houses websites, also using accounts registered in the name of third parties to increase profits”, says the MP in a statement.
The operation led by the MPGO began in February. The body investigates result manipulation in three Serie B games of 2022. In the first phase of the operation, nine warrants were fulfilled in Goiânia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
The matches initially investigated were: Criciúma 2 x 0 Tombense, Vila Nova 0 x 0 Sport and Sampaio Corrêa 2 x 1 Londrina.
The bettors would have offered around BRL 150,000 for players to commit a penalty in the first half of the match. Only in the game between Vila Nova and Sport that the maximum penalty did not happen.
The action began after Vila Nova-GO called the authorities upon learning that the player Romário was involved in the manipulation scheme. The MP investigates crimes of criminal association, money laundering and corruption in sport.
CBF manifests itself
By means of a note, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) defended the investigations of the Public Ministry. The highest entity of national football is responsible for organizing Serie A.
“The CBF supports any and all legal action that brings transparency and fairness to the championships it organizes and to all Brazilian sport”, pointed out the body this Tuesday (18).
In the note, the organization also mentioned that it invests “in tracking and monitoring matches” through a company that also works for FIFA and Conmebol.
“This does not only happen in the competitions that the CBF holds. The entity also pays for the same service for all federations in Brazil. External interference in results or in game situations is a global epidemic that, in order to be solved, needs to punish, in an exemplary and urgent way, those responsible for this harmful practice”, he added.
Source: CNN Brasil
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