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KBL, team investigate game-fixing allegations

March 5, 2013 - 19:27 By Korea Herald
South Korea’s top professional basketball league said Tuesday it has launched its own investigation into allegations that an active head coach was involved in a match-fixing scheme.

The Korean Basketball League said it will ask the coach’s team to verify facts surrounding the fixing allegations.

On Monday, state prosecutors said they had already arrested a gambling broker on match-rigging charges and that they plan to summon the coach for questioning in the future.

Prosecutors declined to release names. They claimed the coach allegedly took about 30 million won in exchange for fixing a game about two years ago.

If the allegations are proven true, the coach would become the first active head coach of a South Korean professional team to be directly involved in fixing schemes.

The KBL said if the head coach admits to his illegal activities, it will immediately open discussions for punishments.

“At this point, no one seems to know the facts,” a KBL official said. “The most pressing task is to gather all the facts.”

Earlier Tuesday, the coach’s team said it also opened its own internal investigation. Team officials said they only learned the fixing allegations through media reports.

One senior official said he will wait and see how the prosecutors’ investigation progresses before determining the team’s official stance.

“We’re not looking to defend him, nor are we about to just abandon him,” the official said. “Getting all the facts is important. I’ve always thought that the coach is well off financially and is an honorable man. I don’t think he would’ve done something like that for money.” (Yonhap News)