Five arrests in Swedish tennis match-fixing investigation

The National Operations Department (NOA) carried out the arrests today (April 14) following an ongoing investigation by its anti-corruption group. The NOA also searched several homes.

The alleged match-fixing is said to involve substantial sums of money, though the amount was not revealed.

The Swedish Police Authority previously condemned match-fixing as a “significant threat” to sport.

“We can see that all sports risk being affected by match-fixing, and we work intensively against this through, among other things, preventive efforts and collaboration at several different levels to access the problem,” says Stefan Erkensjö of NOA’s anti-corruption group.

The arrests follow a recent crackdown by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), which handles integrity issues in the sport, against betting and match-fixing offenses. The alerts that lead to ITIA investigations are typically provided by the International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA).

Earlier this week, the ITIA handed a lifetime ban to Argentine player Franco Feitt after he admitted to nine counts of match-fixing.

The ITIA handed Slovakian player Barbora Palcatova a three-year ban in early April after she was found guilty of match-fixing. She was the tenth player the ITIA banned this year.