Match-fixing: anti-corruption unit trains Hong Kong sports officials to combat criminality
- Members of 43 of the city’s sporting governing bodies complete training programme under the Independent Commission Against Corruption
- It comes days after claims of match-fixing involving primary school children, and after arrests last May over alleged match-fixing in the city’s first division
Sports officials from across Hong Kong have been working with the city’s anti-corruption unit to ensure they are able to combat the threat of match-fixing and other criminal behaviour.
On Friday, members of 43 of the governing bodies running sports in Hong Kong finished a training programme put together by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Designed to help the leaders of the city’s national sports associations ensure the integrity of their competitions, the course ended just days after claims of match-fixing in a five-a-side futsal tournament involving primary school children.
Bryan Chong Ka-lok, the ICAC’s director of corruption prevention, said his organisation would continue to work with all stakeholders using a three-pronged approach of “law enforcement, prevention and education”.
“In order to share the good story of Hong Kong sports, the goal to go ‘faster, higher, stronger’ must be achieved in a fair and honest manner,” Chong said.
Sam Wong Tak-sum, the city’s commissioner for sports, highlighted the importance of safeguarding Hong Kong’s sporting reputation, which he said could be destroyed by a single case of wrongdoing.
Hong Kong has experienced several instances of illegal behaviour in its sports over the past decade.