By Nick Harris 20 September 2010 Snooker players will be banned for life for any infringement of “Draconian” new betting rules intended to make the sport “cleaner than clean, whiter then white”, according Barry Hearn, the chairman of World Snooker. Hearn was speaking as he launched a new integrity unit, to be overseen by the […]

By Nick Harris 10 September 2010 Irony: snooker’s world No1 player cleared of match fixing but banned for six months and fined £75,000 for talking about betting, two days before the game’s governing body announces its latest tie-up with the bookmaking industry. In a statement on World Snooker’s website today, it is announced that the […]

The following statements have been released by the WPBSA and Pat Mooney after the verdict in his ‘match fix’ tribunal. . WPBSA Statement A hearing under the auspices of Sport Resolutions UK on September 7 and 8, 2010, heard of charges which John Higgins admitted through his lawyers before the hearing. The charges were 1. Intentionally […]

The following statement has been released by John Higgins after the verdict in his ‘match fix’ tribunal. . STATEMENT BY JOHN HIGGINS 8th Sept 2010 I welcome today’s judgement by Sport Resolutions and endorsed by the WPBSA following their exhaustive enquiry into the allegations against me by a tabloid newspaper. I am pleased that Sport […]

8 September 2010 There follows, in full, the ruling made today by Ian Mill QC in relation to the John Higgins ‘match fix’ case. We are also running a news story. But in short, Higgins has been cleared of the most serious charges of fixing or intent to fix matches (charges dropped), but has been […]

By Nick Harris 8 September 2010 The world No1 snooker player John Higgins will be free to resume his playing career in November after being cleared today of the most serious charges laid against him relating to allegations of match-fixing. Two charges were dropped: 1) agreeing or offering to accept a bribe, bribes or other […]

By Nick Harris 7 September 2010 The disciplinary tribunal sitting in judgement on allegations that the world No1 snooker player John Higgins agreed a £261,000 bribe in April to lose frames at future matches entered a second session at 2pm this afternoon with the outcome unclear but a result expected within 36 hours. The first […]

By Nick Harris 5 September 2010 The cricket ‘spot-fixing scandal’ took its latest extraordinary twist this evening when the Pakistan batsman, Yasir Hameed, released a statement detailing how the News of the World – and specifically its investigations editor, Mazher Mahmood – had misrepresented Hameed’s views, had offered to pay him £25,000 to talk about […]

By Nick Harris 3 September 2010 As controversy continues to surround the manipulated events at the recent fourth Test between England and Pakistan – events orchestrated and paid for by the News of the World to demonstrate corruptibility – and as the New York Times investigates allegations of illegal phone hacking at the NotW – the News […]

By Nick Harris 28 July 2010 In a welcome development in the John Higgins ‘match fix’ case, The Guardian is reporting that the News of the World has now handed over to investigators all the video tapes shot during its sting operation on Higgins and business partner Pat Mooney. Sportingintelligence cannot independently corroborate that the […]