Court begins to hear match-fixing case

ISTANBUL (A.A) - February 14, 2012 - Istanbul High Criminal Court no: 16 has begun hearing a case on match-fixing. The lawsuit was filed against 93 suspects including 23 arrested ones as they are accused of involvement in match-fixing scandal. Fenerbahce Sports Club's President Aziz Yildirim as well as Olgun Peker, Mecnun Otyakmaz, Ilhan Eksioglu, Sekip Mosturoglu, Tamer Yelkovan, Cemil Turan, Bulent Uygun, Abdullah Eker, Abdullah Karakuz, Ahmet Celebi, Ali Kiratli, Coskun Calik, Haldun Senman, Mehmet Yenice, Omer Ulku, Sami Dinc, Selim Kimil, Talat Emre Kocak, Yusuf Turanli, Abdullah Basak and Hakan Karaahmet are among the arrested suspects of the case. Nearly 60 journalists and 300 people including representatives from sports clubs are watching the trial. The indictment of the prosecutor asks imprisonment for the suspects changing between 22 years up to 115 years under the charges of founding and managing criminal organization to gain unfair economic interest, involving in match-fixing, fraud, bribery, pillage, threat, forgery and paying incentive bonus. In the summer of 2011, police launched an investigation into 19 football matches suspected of being fixed, and by July 10, 61 individuals had been arrested, including club managers and Turkish national players. By July 12, UEFA had confirmed they were monitoring the situation. The president of the Turkish Football Federation Mehmet Ali Aydinlar said that he was "against the relegation of Fenerbahce even though they were proven guilty according to the new TFF disciplinary code, UEFA regulations and FIFA rules". A week after Aydinlar's statement, the TFF confirmed that the TFF Super Cup game between Super League champions Fenerbahce and Turkish Cup winners Besiktas would be postponed indefinitely due to the ongoing investigation. The opening game of the Super League would also eventually be delayed until September 9, and that of the Bank Asya 1st League until September 10 due to the investigation. On July 20, the prosecutor submitted all the documents and video evidence regarding the investigation to TFF Ethics Committee, consisting of some 12,000 pages of documentation. The scandal took an even more sinister turn when Chris Eaton, Chairman of the FIFA Security Committee, claimed that links to organized crime networks had surfaced during collaborations with the Turkish police on the investigation. With the TFF hesitating to impose any sanctions on its members until the legal investigation was concluded, UEFA Board of Arbitration member Levent Bicakci suggested that UEFA could take matters into its own hands and deal with the offending clubs and individuals directly. After a statement released by the TFF on August 15 regarding delaying any sanctions against Turkish clubs, the share price of Fenerbahce SK climbed by more than 49 percent, leading to yet more investigations into insider trading. The TFF eventually banned Fenerbahce from participating in the 2011-12 Champions League, with UEFA announcing that Trabzonspor would replace them. Aziz Yildirim and Nihat Ozdemir, Fenerbahce's president and deputy-president respectively, later resigned as a result. The TFF also reversed a previous decision not to act until the investigation was concluded, deciding that they would rule on the recipient of the 2010-2011 title as soon as possible. On December 9, 2011, match-fixing indictment was accepted by the court. On December 10, 2011, Turkish Parliament approved a reduction in prison terms for match-fixing and hooliganism despite a veto by the president earlier.