Nov 19, 2009, 15:10 GMT
Bochum, Germany - German prosecutors confirmed Thursday that they have been investigating suspected match-fixing in European football leagues since the beginning of the year and have made several arrests.
According to the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper, the inquiry has targeted 100 people and that games in the Turkish top division are among those suspected of having been manipulated.
The main suspects were located in Berlin and were previously involved in match-fixing with disgraced German referee Robert Hoyzer, who was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 29 months in prison after admitting he had manipulated games mostly in German lower divisions.
'Those arrested are suspected of bribing players, coaches, referees and officials from top-ranking European leagues in order to manipulate the results of games in favour of the gangs and to use this situation to perpetrate betting fraud,' the prosecutors' office in Bochum said in a statement Thursday.
The statement added that the arrests come as part of an investigation supported by the European football's ruling body UEFA, which said it was 'working closely with German authorities through its betting fraud detection system'.
In September, UEFA revealed that it was investigating 40 cases of suspected match-fixing in the Champions League and UEFA Cup, mostly involving Eastern European clubs.
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