WORLD SNOOKER HAS ruled that John Higgins is free to resume his playing career this November after being found not guilty of the most serious charge of match-fixing.
The world number one has been handed a six-month ban (back-dated to May) and a £75,000 fine for breaching rules around the discussion of betting.
His business partner, Pat Mooney, was found guilty of discussing and planning frame-fixing without Higgins’ knowledge and won’t ever be allowed to play any role in snooker again.
Higgins and Mooney were filmed in Kiev in April apparently agreeing to a “fix” deal by undercover News of the World reporters who successively pretended they were businessmen wanting to stage tournaments, and shady gamblers wanting to bet on them.