Slovak police charge four over match fixing

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BRATISLAVA, March 5, 2008 (AFP) - Three Slovak football officials and a referee have been charged with corruption for trying to fix results in favour of a second division regional league club, police announced on Wednesday.

The three officials offered the referee two bribes totalling 50,000 koruna (1,563 euros, 2,381 dollars) to fix results, police spokeswoman Andrea Polacikova said. That is more than twice the average monthly wage of around 23,000 koruna.

The officials acted in favour of one, unnamed club, director of the anti-corruption office, Tibor Gaspar, told the daily Hospodarske Noviny. They face sentences of up to three years and the referee up to eight years in jail if convicted.

The latest charges follow last year's high profile graft case against Vladimir Wanke, the 61-year-old deputy secretary general of the Slovak football association. He faces nine charges of corruption.

Wanke is accused of taking cash, cases of wine and consignments of fruit to help push through players transfers. In one instance, in March 2007, he is alleged to have pocketed 10,000 koruna to speed up one player's move from an Austrian club to a regional Slovak outfit.

The police are expected to wrap up their case against Wanke soon so that it can be brought to court. Wanke denies his guilt, saying the case against him has been fabricated.