South Korean authorities have charged 27 people including prominent baseball and volleyball players in relation to match fixing. Yonhap reports the Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office handed out the charge sheets to two pitchers from LG Twins, a Seoul based pro-baseball team, 12 male and female volleyball players, and four military volleyball players. The remainder of those charged were either gambling brokers or others involved in illegal betting.
“Brokers recruited professional athletes through various means, and succeeded in fixing matches by betting large amounts on gambling sites and reaping winnings,” Park Eun-seok, a prosecutor in Daegu, said in a televised briefing. “The players received monetary compensation as rewards from the brokers.”
It’s believed at least 17 men’s volleyball matches over the past two seasons are affected and one women’s match from the 2010-11 season. No more details on the baseball games have emerged and it’s believed brokers paid players five million won ($4,442) for every game that was fixed.
Former New Zealand cricket star Chris Cairns has been linked to match fixing whilst playing in the Indian Cricket League (ICL). Former Chandigarh Lions players Gaurav Gupta, Karanveer Singh and Rajesh Sharma all told a libel trial Cairns was involved in during his time with the team. Gupta claims that Cairns instructed him to score “no more than five runs” in one game. Singh claims his vice-captain, Dinesh Mongia, told him that everyone knew of the widespread fixing in the ICL. Sharma claims Cairns told him to keep quiet about the illegal activities. It’s part of a libel case, being heard in London, that Cairns brought against former Indian Premier League (IPL) supremo Lalit Modi after a Tweet claimed Cairns was involved.
