In early June, the football manager of Náutico-RR, Marcelo Pereira, opened a police report against the team itself. He went to the police station after a 10-2 defeat by Trem-AP, in Série D. He asked for an investigation into suspected sale of the result.
In May of this year, eight people, including players, coach and managers of Crato, were denounced in the Court of Sports Justice of Ceará on suspicion of manipulation of results in the state. The club was excluded from the competition.
There are only two cases, recent and known, of the same crime denounced by Santos and Red Bull Bragantino last Monday: manipulation or attempted manipulation of results in Brazilian football. The motivation is usually the same: interference in games to make a profit from sports betting.
Paulo Schmitt, former attorney general at the Superior Court of Sports Justice and currently working for the São Paulo Football Federation in cases of match-fixing, believes that there may be an increase in the incidence of suspected cases. “I view this with great concern. Brazil seems to be at the epicenter of the increase in cases in the world,” he said.
There is legislation to curb this practice. Involved can be punished, both sportingly and criminally. The Brazilian Sports Justice Code (CBJD), in article 242, states that anyone who gives or promises an undue advantage to a referee or athlete with the aim of interfering with the outcome of a game may face a fine of R$100 to R$100 thousand and be banned from the sport. The same applies to intermediaries and arbitration members who accept the advantage.
In the Fan Statute, article 41-D, it is established that the person responsible for manipulating the results in sport may face a penalty of two to six years of imprisonment, and also pay a fine.
Still, the cases keep happening. In March of that year, the complaint was in the Campeonato Sul-Mato-Grossense. A Coxim player accused the team of having purposely lost the last game of the first phase to the then last placed 5-0, when they needed just a simple victory to continue in the competition.
The delay for cases to be investigated in the criminal sphere generates a feeling of impunity. Sports punishment can also be effective. As well as the awareness of athletes.
“Cooperative action (sports and criminal) is always the best alternative, although they can produce results in different deadlines because in the sports courts we have faster responses. What cannot happen is to stop investigating, controlling, inspecting and punishing; and above all, within an integrity program, develop educational actions and encourage complaints,” stated Schmitt.
It was precisely the complaint by the Red Bull Bragantino player, who refused the proposal to interfere in the result of the match against Santos, that allowed a new suspicion of an attempt to manipulate the result to come to light.
She refused the first proposal from the Santos official and then received a second attack, with a higher offer. The crime also had the participation of an intermediary, from Red Bull, who made the bridge between the player and the author of the bribe proposal.
The case was taken to the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). The entity stated that “it received the complaint this Monday (20) and, as a standard procedure in cases like this, will forward it to the Superior Court of Sports Justice (STJD) for the complete investigation of the narrated facts.”
In addition, Santos and Red Bull Bragantino took the case to the Public Ministry and the police.
"If the regulation [of sports betting] does not include mandatory implementation of integrity projects by the organizations that organize competitions and clubs, in addition to monitoring of matches by specialized companies, we will be vulnerable to crimes provided for in the fan statute such as manipulation in bets, fraud in results, and money laundering," assured Schmitt.
Source: GMB / O Globo
