Former Allsvenskan star Pawel Cibicki, now in Polish Pogoń Szczecin, became in December last year charged with taking bribes and gambling offenses in a match-fixing tangle. It was during the meeting between Kalmar FF and IF Elfsborg in 2019 that he was suspected of receiving a yellow card on which money could be invested. The player then belonged to Elfsborg and is now suspended from playing by both Fifa and Swedish Football Association. In the autumn, the union set the suspension to four years.
Cibicki was suspected of receiving a bribe, in the form of a loan of SEK 300,000, before the Allsvenskan match, but has denied any wrongdoing. At the beginning of June this year, he was acquitted by the district court, but the prosecutor then chose to appeal the verdict to the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal now announces that Cibicki is convicted of taking a bribe and of gambling fraud. The penalty is a conditional sentence, as well as a fee of SEK 800 to the crime victim fund.
“In this part, the Court of Appeal makes a different assessment than the district court which acquitted the defendants. From all these betting accounts, money was invested in the football player receiving a warning during the match. The Court of Appeal considers it proven that one purpose of the gambling fraud was to finance the loan to the football player. a profit of SEK 100,000 for the lenders “, the Court of Appeal writes in a press release.
The Court of Appeal further writes:
“The football player is convicted of taking bribes and cheating and the two people who offered the loan are convicted of giving bribes and cheating “.
In the judgment, the Court of Appeal writes the following about its assessment:
“As the district court found, there is no direct evidence to show that there was an agreement between Pawel Cibicki on the one hand and (another person, reds. anm) and (other person, editor’s note) on the other hand that Pawel Cibicki would take a yellow card (warning) during the current match. The circumstances as a whole may nevertheless lead to the conclusion that there must have been such an agreement “, it is stated in the judgment.
The Court of Appeal further writes in the judgment:
“It is also very troublesome for the defendants that on the match day or some day before that, 27 new gaming accounts were opened that can be linked to (another person, editor’s note) and (another person, editor’s note). That so many gaming accounts are opened at the same time and used for betting on such a specific betting object as a yellow card is a circumstance that Dan Koronen (Head of Product Sportsbetting & Sportbook Integrity Svenska Spel, ed. note) described as extremely unusual; “it almost never happens”. In this context it can also be stated that The statistics on the number of yellow cards that Pawel Cibicki has been awarded over the years show that he incurred three yellow cards in 2019, including the current one. statistical perspective, which is completely unjustified or at least very chance-oriented. .
Before the Court of Appeal’s ruling, Cibicki appeared this week, in an interview with the podcast Full-time professionals, and told about his thoughts on what happened. He was not prepared to be prosecuted, as he claims to be innocent.
– I have been innocent since day one and am innocent until today, he says in podcast Full-time professionals.
In addition to Cibicki, three other people were also charged from the beginning, of which two of the other people were connected to the Allsvenskan match, in the match-fixing tangle. The player was suspected of receiving money from the other two people to take the yellow card. The other two then bet that the player would perform the achievement. One of the other two people is a futsal player with national team merits from the Swedish national team.
The futsal player was charged with bribery and cheating, but was acquitted of both counts in the district court. The Court of Appeal now convicts the player for giving a bribe and for gambling fraud. The penalty is a suspended sentence. The other person, who was linked to the Allsvenskan match, is also convicted of giving a bribe and cheating. The fourth person, in turn, is convicted of making bribes and gambling in connection with lower level matches.
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