A Round-Up of Sport Corruption News

The amount of news these days on various issues of corruption in sports is pretty remarkable. Here are a few notable items that have recently caught my attention (far from exhaustive):

• Yesterday, the Trinidad Daily Express reported that Jack Warner (former FIFA official and current public works minister in Trinidad) has been cleared of bribery allegations by the Trinidad government. Today, the Trinidad Daily Express says not so fast. Sordid details on this turnabout are provided by the consistently excellent Lasana Liburd at Wired868.
• Chuck Blazer, former CONCACAF head and the guy who blew the whistle on Warner last year, is under investigation for fraud. He still appears to think that he is able to extract millions of dollars from CONCACAF. This may show up in a NY court, but I have my doubts.
• FIFA has appointed International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, to serve as its chief corruption investigator. Perhaps of note, Moreno-Ocampo said this in a 2009 interview: "I defended Maradona, the football player, who had some problems with journalists."
•  Snooker finds itself caught up in match-fixing claims and new claims have surfaced in India of spot-fixing in the IPL, following a TV program sting operation. The England and Wales Cricket Board have launched a new anti-corruption unit to monitor competition.
• Italian soccer also finds itself in the midst of a match-fixing scandal, of which an Italian prosecutor says of the investigation, "we could go on forever." Italian PM Mario Monti said of the scandal, "Maybe soccer should be suspended for two or three years. It's not a government proposal, but it's a question we should ask ourselves." Declan Hill says it's "worse than you think" but provides few details.
•  The US Justice and Education departments have opened investigations of the University of Montana Football program over allegations of sexual assault and harassment by football players and university complicity in covering up the incidents.
• In horse racing, NY race officials are taking extraordinary steps in advance of the upcoming Belmont Stakes to ensure that there is no doping of I'll Have Another, the horse which is aiming to win the Triple Crown. The horse's owner has a long history of suspicion of bad behavior.
• Finally, (for this round up) BBC Panorama has aired a hard hitting (do they do anything else as related to football?) documentary on racism in Poland and Ukraine in advance of Euro 2012. The entire episode can be seen below.