Brussels : Five Armenians have been charged in Belgium with corruption, money laundering and other crimes as part of a major international investigation into match-fixing in tennis, Belgian federal prosecutors said on Wednesday.
They were among 13 people detained in Belgium on Tuesday amid simultaneous raids also launched in the US, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Netherlands. An investigating judge in Belgium issued an arrest warrant for five people. “all of Armenian nationality,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.
Belgian prosecutors said the matches involved were on the low-level Futures and Challenger circuits, away from the gaze of television coverage and where meagre prize money leaves players susceptible to backhanders.