By Nadeesha Rathnayake, Doha Oct 30, 2019: More than 240 allegations of corruption in sport have been reported to the Sport Integrity (SI) Hotline, highlighting a significant number of match-fixing, internal corruption and sexual abuse issues (Independent Sport Integrity Hotline).
Established in 2018, by the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), to provide a safe and secure whistleblowing platform dedicated to reporting misconduct in sport, the SI Hotline has released its first summary of reported cases showcasing the scale and scope of integrity violations impacting global sport.
The SI Hotline data shows;
Football is the sport most affected by allegations with 87% of the reported cases
Other sports affected include: tennis, handball and athletics with 23% of cases
Match-fixing (23%), money laundering (12%) and internal corruption (10%) the most frequently reported types of crimes
Geographically, [Middle East and North] Africa and Europe dominate the regions where cases are being reported
Reported crime types related to sport include terrorism, tax evasions, player trafficking, betting fraud and fan violence
Graphics attached providing an overview of the reported cases
The SI hotline operates on a WhistleBlower Security (WBS) platform – a third-party specialist ethics and case management provider.
The hotline further strengthened by CLUE, a state-of-the-art intelligence-management technology that supports efficient case resolution.
Whistleblowers from every region can submit their cases online or report by phone.
The Hotline operates over 220+ supported languages with dedicated phone numbers for easy access to the SI Hotline for whistleblowers.
Once a case submits, an integrity expert at the Sport Integrity Unit (SIU) will analyse the alleged information to verify for authenticity.
As content verification most challenging part of the investigation, the process goes through multiple checks for the authenticity of the report before the SIU determines to involve the relevant authorities and law enforcement agencies, this does by way of an SIU Integrity Alert.
Independent Sport Integrity Hotline/Independent Sport Integrity Hotline
The ICSS established to work towards safeguarding sport and, over the past nine years, has invested heavily in research, resources and mechanisms to fight corruption in sport.
The SIU led by Dale Sheehan and Fred Lord, both experts in this field with senior roles in law enforcement agencies such as INTERPOL and Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The SI Hotline has demonstrated, in a relatively short period of time, the requirement for this service has acknowledged by international policy makers, governments and sport institutions.
The SI Hotline see as a vital tool to help protect those who most need it and to encourage people to come forward to preserve the integrity of sport.
As with all whistleblower hotlines, it is imperative to ensure people feel safe, secure and protected when they submit information.
The SI Hotline has developed a significant capability which provides the SIU with one of the world’s largest independent, cross sport anti-corruption intelligence databases.
The serious interconnected crime types, identified in sport have paved a way to identify emerging threats and provide early warnings to governments and sports of potential threats to the safety, security and integrity of sport.
For more information on Sport Integrity Hotline and the whistleblower process, please visit; http://theicss.org/sport-integrity-hotline/
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