Zimbabwe official Kasinauyo suspended over fixing claims

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) has provisionally suspended executive committee member Edzai Kasinauyo over allegations he was involved in an attempt to fix an African Nations Cup qualifier scheduled for later this month.





The 40-year-old, who played for Zimbabwe at the Nations Cup finals in 2006, is being investigated over the claims involving the country's Group L encounter away to Swaziland on March 25, ZIFA said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The suspension has been occasioned by allegations of match fixing ahead of the 2017 African Nations Cup qualifier match between Zimbabwe and Swaziland," ZIFA said.

"Kasinauyo has been fingered in the match-fixing scam and investigations are going on. ZIFA president Dr Phillip Chiyangwa will issue a statement after consultations with COSAFA, CAF, FIFA and the Government of Zimbabwe."

COSAFA is a 14-member council of Southern African associations affiliated to the region's governing Confederation of African Football (CAF).

CAF issued a statement on Wednesday saying it would liaise with football's world ruling body FIFA to "activate the mechanisms necessary" to ensure other Nations Cup qualifiers are not open to manipulation.

"We reaffirm the commitment of the CAF President (Issa Hayatou) and the Executive Committee to eliminate any threat that will influence the integrity of the game on the continent, either through match fixing or illegal betting," CAF's secretary general Hicham El Amrani said.

"We will, immediately, in consultation with FIFA, investigate and activate the mechanisms necessary to ensure that similar actions will not come to affect the course of any match, be it in the context of the AFCON (African Nations Cup) 2017 qualifiers or any other future competition."

ZIFA's recent history has been littered with problems and in 2012, after several years of investigation, 13 players and officials were banned for life for match-fixing in what became known as the 'Asiagate' scandal.

A further 69 received suspensions for their part in fixing friendly internationals that Zimbabwe played in Asia, where games were manipulated under the instruction of a Singapore-based betting syndicate.

The last of those suspensions for administrators, match officials, players and coaches were lifted earlier this year as an investigation by FIFA into the matter stalled.

Swaziland and Zimbabwe are top of Africa Nations Cup qualification Group L on four points after two games, with the winners gaining automatic entry to next year's tournament in Gabon. Malawi and Guinea are the other teams in the group.





(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by John O'Brien and Ken Ferris)


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