Newspaper hands over tapes in John Higgins scandal
The Sunday newspaper the News of the World has handed over all of the video recordings used during the sting operation of snooker player John Higgins and his manager Pat Mooney.
On May 2nd, the scandal was revealed on the day of the world championship final at the Crucible. The footage shows Higgins and his manager in a Ukrainian hotel in Kiev talking about the best way to cover up the money he receives and how easy it would be to decide the outcome of a frame. It reveals Higgins with his manager Mooney agreeing on a price of £261,000, to throw frames in four separate matches in the World Series later this year.
The matter was thoroughly investigated by David Douglas, a former Metropolitan police chief superintendent, now in charge of disciplinary matters on the board of the World Professional Snooker and Billiards Association (WPBSA). The case has now been passed on to an independent dispute resolution service Sport Resolutions (UK), with an outcome set to be decided in early September. Higgins is currently suspended from all WPBSA tournaments, but a decision should be made before the first ranking tournament in Shanghai on September 6th.
Reports suggested the News of the World were reluctant to hand over all of the filming fearing that Higgins and Mooney could take legal action, but the publication had denied any such occurrence. Higgins and Mooney face charges of match-fixing, bringing the game into disrepute and accepting or pretending to accept a proposition related to gambling on frames.
Both Higgins and Mooney have denied any wrong-doing, and a spokesman for Higgins said: “Throughout this process we have avoided being drawn on speculation or conjecture. Given there is a quasi-judicial procedure ongoing, it would be wrong for us to comment. We are completely focused on clearing John's name in relation to the accusations of match fixing.”
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