Eight men face up to two years in prison over French match-fixing

PARIS: Prosecutors asked a court in Paris on Thursday to sentence eight men accused of match-fixing in the French second division to up to two years in prison.

Amongst those accused of corruption dating back to 2014 are two former owners of Nimes – who have just been promoted back to Ligue 1 – Jean-Marc Conrad and Serge Kasparian.

They face a possible three-year sentence – one of those suspended – and a 50,000- euro ( 59,000) fine.

They are accused of having tried to fix several matches at the end of the 2013/14 season to help Nimes avoid relegation to the French third tier, aided by an intermediary, Franck Toutoundjian.

He faces a potential two-year sentence – one of which suspended – and a 5,000- euro fine.

Six of seven matches studied by the court are suspected of having been targeted by fixers, all unsuccessfully.

However, the court heard that “doubts” remain over whether or not a match-fixing attempt was successful on May 13, 2014 in a 1-1 draw between Caen and Nimes that allowed the former to gain promotion to Ligue 1 and the latter to escape the drop from Ligue 2.

Despite Conrad and former Caen owner Jean-Fran ois Fortin – both charged with active and passive corruption – discussing their mutual interest in a draw on the telephone, magistrates said there was “no element to demonstrate that the attempts by Nimes (to arrange a favourable result) were successful”.

Prosecutors have asked for a one-year suspended sentence and 10,000- euro fine against Fortin while four other men face suspended sentences of between five and eight months. — AFP