France won the 24th World Handball Championship in Qatar and people would think that with this gold medal everything is ok in France handball. Two years ago there was a big scandal about match fixing in France LHN Division. At that point best team Montpellier was playing against much weaker Cesson-Sevigne, on surprise for everyone Montpellier lost that game 31-28 (15-12). But as soon as the game was over, various betting houses informed police about strange payments on this handball game especial on halftime and endgame results.
It would be soon found out that around 18 players, including 9 players from Montpellier and among them both Karabatic brother, are accused for that match-fixing scandal. Interesting thing is that players admitted that they bet against their team (Montpellier) but their lawyer said that they didn’t throw the game on purpose.
Now two years after that scandal prosecution is accusing Nikola and Luka Karabatic of organized scam. Prosecutor Patrick Desjardins said that clearly the players in question have used their team spirit to plan and carry out the scam, aiming to deceive “La Francaise des Jeux”. One of accused Mladen Bojinovic is exposed as being compulsive gambler and that he sends a text message to all accused stating that the time limit for the bet was running out. When asked about Nikola Karabatic, Desjardins commented that it’s not possible that he didn’t know about the proceedings.
Karabatic is accused to have transferred €1.500 from his account three days before the game. Karabatic girlfriend admitted that she placed a bet on that match using that sum of money. Prosecution also found a possible explanation for betting scam, according to a text message that Karabatic sent to his girlfriend money from betting scam was intended to finances a team trip to Ibiza.
Betting scandal in France with Karabatic brothers in main roles
No comments:
Post a Comment