BELGIUM: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Reaction to chairman Filippo Gaone and club lawyer Laurent Denis of first division club La Louviere who are charged in connections to allegations of match-fixing.

Record ID: 839743

  • Title: BELGIUM: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Reaction to chairman Filippo Gaone and club lawyer Laurent Denis of first division club La Louviere who are charged in connections to allegations of match-fixing.
  • Date: 18th March 2006
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (MARCH 17, 2006) (REUTERS) NEWSPAPERS REPORTING ON THE FOOTBALL MATCH FIXING CASE NEWSPAPER HET LAATSTE NIEUWS HEADLINE: TOP OF FOOTBALL MAFIA ARRESTED SHOWING LAWYER OF CLUB LA LOUVIERE LAURENT DENIS (LEFT) AND PRESIDENT OF LA LOUVIERE FILLIPO GAONE (RIGHT) PICTURES OF MAIN SUSPECTS: CHINESE BUSINESS MAN YE ZHEYUN (LEFT) AND PIETRO ALLATTA 4 NEWSPAPER
  • Embargoed: 2nd April 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • City:
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA3A7K6BN7OHKDZS4BBZ87ZS0AQ
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: There was another black day for Belgian soccer on Friday (March 17) as chairman Filippo Gaone and club lawyer Laurent Denis of Belgium's first division club La Louviere are charged in connections to allegations of match-fixing.
    International warrants are out of the arrest of Chinese businessman Ye Zheyun as well as for the broker Pietro Allatta, described by police as the key players in the gambling scandal.
    Ye once owned a stake in Finland's AC Alliansi, but late last year the club broke all ties with Ye, saying he had not fulfilled the financial terms of his June take-over.
    Gaone is said to be charged with falsifying documents and on two other counts of fraud while Laurent Denis has been charged in relation to fraud according to Lieve Pellens, spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutor.
    Ye Zheyun, who was arrested in Brussels in November but later released, is thought to be back in China while Pietro Allatta left press in confusion telling Belgian television channel RTBF to be in Mauritius while announcing to the Newspaper La Derniere Heure being still in Belgium.
    "I think it is important that it stays a clean sport, I mean without tricks, without bribes. But it is not easy to control or to reach." an anonymous passenger told Reuters in the Royal Park in Brussels. "It is not honest, they have to go to prison".
    "In fact in this stage, it is not really sports anymore, it is bad business and it is, I don't know, not anymore what it should be," students told Reuters on Friday.
    "I think this is a scandal, this not really sport, this is not playing a game to entertain. We are now in times of fastening, maybe it is a sin. If this is sport, I do not agree with all that money," Pere Serra Creas, a Spanish man living in Brussels said.
    For some Flemish children visiting the Royal Park, it is clear Ye Zheyun should already have been confined.
    "I think Belgian football is none of this Chinese mans' business. He doesn't have anything to do with it," Senne Teunis said.
    "In fact this has nothing to do with soccer, it is just bribery, nothing more" Stef Michiels told Reuters.
    "I think it is scandalous that the teams have to be bought over like this, they earn enough in national football competition, don't they? That they have to be bribed by this Chinese guy, I think that's scandalous, that they fix the matches," Vincent Luyckx said.
    Club La Louviere is not the first club being charged with match-fixing this year in Belgium. One month ago players of Flemish club Lierse admitted matches were fixed as well.
    A total of five Belgian clubs are under investigation along with many other officials, players and individuals connected with the game.
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