Higgins Not Guilty of Match Fixing
World number one, John Higgins has been given a six month ban and fined £75,000 for breaching rules around betting – but the Scot was cleared of the more serious charge of match-fixing at a hearing in London this afternoon.
Higgins was suspended in May, after the News of the World alleged, on the morning of the world championship final, that he and his manager Pat Mooney had agreed at a meeting in the Ukranian capital Kiev to lose frames in four matches to be played as part of a series of new tournaments, in return for £261,000.
The World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn immediately suspended Higgins and vowed to clean up the sport when the story was published.
Higgins always protested his innocence, claiming he felt intimidated and would have gone along with anything in order to get home.
At the hearing, Higgins admitted two of the four charges brought before him;
1)"Intentionally giving the impression to others that they were agreeing to act in breach of the betting rules" and
2) "Failing to disclose promptly to the Association full details of an approach or invitation to act in breach of the Betting Rules".
However the more serious charges of "Agreeing or offering to accept a bribe, bribes or other reward to fix or otherwise to influence improperly the result of a Tournament or Match, and "Agreeing to engage in corrupt or fraudulent conduct" were withdrawn following the two-day hearing in London.
Higgins' six month ban ha been backdated to May, when his original suspension began, and will end on November 1 at midnight, making him eligible to play in the UK Championship in early December.
Mooney, ruled to have placed Higgins in "a highly invidious position" by being "entirely responsible for Mr Higgins' presence in Kiev", and as a result of his "egregious betrayals of trust" should be banned from further involvement in snooker for life.
