Reportant on September 21, while he was in Nice, Hichem Guirat, former national direction of arbitration of the Tunisian Professional Football League, is in the crosshairs of French justice.
Hichem Guirat was in Nice with his family when he was arrested by investigators from the Central Races and Games Service (SCCJ) of the judicial police.
He was indicted on September 21 by an investigating judge in Nice, heads of “complicity in organized gang scam”, “association of criminals” and “active corruption of actors of a sporting demonstration”, reported the French media.
Placed under judicial control
His indictment is related to the affair of the results of matches of the Tunisian championship. He is suspected of having participated in the organization of a rigged match in April 2019. Hichem Guirat was heard as defendants in the case, then he was released, while remaining at the disposal of the French judicial authorities.
At the end of his indictment, the former international referee was placed under judicial supervision because justice suspects him of having taken part in the organization of a rigged match in the Tunisian Ligue 1 championship, disputed on April 7, 2019, between US Ben Guerdane and ES Métlaoui.
A meeting which had ended in the victory of the USBG on the score of 1-0, after a penalty in 54 ‘. A match that had given rise to betting to the “abnormally high” amounts in Nice and Cagnes-sur-Mer, for a Tunisian championship match.
Puts of more than 35,000 euros in this match
In April 2019, the newspaper L’Equipe already echoed this affair, revealing that suspicious bets had been placed in France, Sunday April 7, on the USBG-ESM match on behalf of the 18th day.
The bets, more than 35,000 euros, focused on a USBG victory in points of sale by the French Games (FDJ) in the Alpes-Maritimes, mainly in Nice, according to a French official document consulted by the newspaper L’Equipe, confirming information from Romain Molina journalist.
“In response to these suspicious movements, the FDJ suspended bets on the meeting about three hours before kick -off. The case could be the subject of a judicial investigation in the coming days, “said the team knowing that the USBG had already been the subject of two alerts for suspicious bets placed in France in 2018.
Three indictments
If for the time being nothing has filtered on the declarations of Hichem Guirat during his presentation in front of the magistrate-instructor, in charge of this file, the French media report that a key witness would have recently manifested themselves and would have indicated that Hichem Guirat would have taken part in this scam directly.
As the newspaper L’Equipe had revealed, three people had been indicted for “scam in an organized gang”, on September 14, 2019, in this same case. They are suspected of having been informed in advance of the USBG victory against ESM and of being at the origin of fraudulent bets.
