LAST UPDATE | 18 May 2022
TEN MEN HAVE today been arrested in connection with alleged match-fixing in the League of Ireland.
The arrests have been made under ‘Operation Brookweed’, carried out by the anti-bribery and corruption unit of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau.
10 males – spanning an age range of early 20s to 60s – have been arrested and a number of residential properties searched as part of a planned operation in the Southern Region and the Dublin Metropolitan areas. The operation was supported by resources attached to the Limerick and Cork City divisions.
The males have been arrested on the suspicion of the offence of Conspiracy to Defraud contrary to Common Law, and are currently detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at various stations in the Southern and Dublin Metropolitan regions.
The operation stems from an investigation acting upon reports of suspected match-fixing received from the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and European football governing body Uefa in 2019.
Speaking about today’s operation, Detective Superintendent Catharina Gunne said that “Match-fixing and corruption is a threat to all sports at all levels and undermines public confidence in the fairness of sport. It can allow organised crime to infiltrate sport in order to use it to make illicit gains or launder proceeds of crime”.
In a statement, the FAI say they “note the latest developments in the Gardai enquiry into alleged match fixing. The FAI, in conjunction with Uefa, remains committed to a zero tolerance policy on match fixing. As this is now a legal matter we will be making no further comment.”
Updated at 10.17 with FAI statement