City of London police raided the HQ of a British bookmaker on three separate occasions as part of investigations into match fixing. According to the Telegraph, Asian handicap football specialists Samvo Entertainment Ltd, have been subject of police raids since November 2009. The latest was four weeks ago and it relates to an investigation into widespread match fixing in German football. Ringleader Ante Sapina has already been jailed for his part in the scam.
The reason for raiding Samvo is that authorities think bets could have been placed through accounts registered at the Wembley based firm. Its also alleged employees may have personally placed bets on behalf of the match fixers.
In response to the allegations, which are vehemently denied by Samvo, David Miller, senior marketing manager, told the Telegraph, “Throughout the investigation of Sapina, Samvo has provided its full support to the City of London Police and to the German Authorities.
“I can confirm that no employee of Samvo has been implicated in any of the offences for which Sapina and the other defendants in the German court proceedings have been found guilty. Any accounts which were identified by the German Authorities as being potentially connected to the activities of Sapina or the other defendants were promptly suspended by Samvo and any monies held in those accounts were frozen and were transferred to the German Court.’’
The last raid on Samvo’s premises followed the conviction of Sapina and shows that the investigation in Germany is still very much ongoing.
