Still no report on fixing
The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) seemingly feel no urgency to make public the investigative report into the match-fixing that allegedly took place between Brothers Union and Rahmatganj MFS, even though two-and-a-half months have passed since the launching the investigation.
Brothers Union and Rahmatganj allegedly played a fixed match in the Bangladesh Premier League on April 25 this year, just four days before the BFF polls. The game was termed an 'election match' due to the suspicion that Brothers' loss was a ploy to garner votes for their officials contesting the polls.
The newly elected BFF committee launched the investigation through the Match-Fixing Identification Committee headed by the Bangladesh Rural Development Board's director general Humayun Khalid.
The committee held its first meeting on May 11, followed by three to four more meetings but they have yet to submit their report while next season's players' transfer, scheduled for August 15, is drawing nearer.
BFF senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy had earlier promised to make the investigative report public by July 23 and then July 26 but failed to keep his promise.
“They (government officials investigating the suspicious match) were out of the capital, that's why they could not submit the report but they promised us that they will submit it by the middle of next week,” said Murshedy, adding that they would call the league committee meeting the day after receiving the report and would later make it public.
Murshedy also claimed that they were willing to publish the investigation report but they had no hand in actually compiling the report as an Independent Committee was working on it
The delay in publishing the report brings into sharp focus the ineffectiveness of the concerned authorities in dealing with corruption in football, and the situation is worsened when one considers that there is another suspicious match between Brothers Union and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club yet to be investigated.
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