Ben Nunoo-Mensah wants tougher laws to combat illegal football betting

The President of the Ghana Olympic Committee Ben Nunoo-Mensah is advocating for tougher laws to deal with the growing menace of illegal betting in football in Ghana and on the African continent.

The highly-respected GOC chief delivered a statement ‘Match-Fixing and illegal betting are emerging crimes in Ghana and Africa’ at the ongoing 10th Interpol Match-Fixing Task Force Meeting in Lyon, France on Tuesday.

The Ghana Olympic Committee chief urged for a strong need to amend the laws or create new ones to tackle them.

“Match-fixing and illegal betting is a multi-billion dollar industry especially in Asia,” part of his statement read

“Organised crime wants to take advantage of the huge amount of money in football betting, thus resorting to match-fixing, to make huge returns.

“There must be an enactment or a law which says the office one holds is a public one.

“It will be interesting to see under which criminal law the referees will be prosecuted. Match fixing is not a crime under our criminal code.”

The GOC boss is among high profile global figures who are attending the two-day summit which ends on Wednesday, September 12, 2018.

Among key stakeholders attending the event are the Federation International de Football (FIFA), Global Lottery Monitoring System (GLMS), International Olympic Committee and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The meeting has brought together law enforcement agencies around the world to tackle match-fixing/sports corruption to maintain integrity in sports.

The Ghana Olympic Committee chief is leading a crusade to rebrand the association and position it as a true international trademark.