How much corruption can there be in an industry globally worth between $ 488.5 billion and $ 756 billion? How far has organized crime infiltrated it?
These and many more questions are proposed to answer by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its Global Report on Corruption in Sport released yesterday from its headquarters in Vienna, Austria (www.unodc.org/ res / safeguardingsport / grcs / index_html / SPORTS_CORRUPTION_2021_FULL_REPORT. pdf).
If human activities where money is involved attract criminals of all kinds, it is easy to assume that the more money is at stake, the more criminals there will be fighting over it.
The report explains that “Estimates of the value of the sports industry vary according to the range of metrics used. In 2018, estimates ranged from 488.5 billion when sport-specific products are analyzed to 756 billion when other economic sectors are included, such as transportation and entertainment. “
The 300-page report explains that “the risk of corruption has increased along with the globalization of sport” and cites, as an example, the scandal that occurred in 2009 when it was discovered that nearly 200 football matches, including 12 of the European League and three of the Champions League, were manipulated by the gambling mafias.
The UNODC points out how “football, in particular, has been considered by organized criminal groups as a convenient vehicle for the activity of money laundering and profit. Substantial and often poorly controlled money flows connect a wide range of actors (for example, club officials, owners, shareholders, players, staff, sponsors, agents, and attorneys) and the financial growth of sport has made this framework unique. increasingly susceptible to exploitation ”and explains how organized crime can take control of a football club to launder money or gain political influence over local or national officials, among other things.
The UN body adds that “the strategy of infiltration in organizations used by organized criminal groups to attack sports entities poses a threat that States can no longer ignore. [por] the scope, scale and complexity of criminal networks within sport ”.
Regarding our country, the report notes that in 2018 the Sports Appeal and Arbitration Commission (CAAD) presented its Guide for the Implementation of Corruption Prevention and Promotion of Integrity in Sports Measures.
It is worth asking here what the CAAD is currently doing to combat corruption in sports. His site www. gob.mx/caad has not been updated since July 23, 2018 and its current president, Juan Bautista Gómez Moreno, declared in December 2019 that “The CAAD is paralyzed due to lack of money and members (…) Yes there is no support, it would not be bad if it disappeared and a court emerged for the sport that does sanction ”.
Is President Andrés Manuel López Obrador aware that in sports, including his beloved beige, corruption is very likely to occur?
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