Brazil’s congressional commission, which is investigating a network that has rigged matches to encourage a betting mafia, summoned footballers Lucas Paquetá of England’s West Ham United and Luiz Henrique of Betis as witnesses on Wednesday.
In a session this Wednesday The Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) into football manipulation has approved 18 MPs’ motions to integrate them. including the “invitation” to declare Lucas Paquetá and Luiz Henrique.
That’s what the deputies said The two footballers will be heard and questioned via video conference as both are in the middle of the championship and play in the English and Spanish leagues.
The subpoena was approved after the session questioning veteran Paysandu de Belém winger Nino Paraiba, who defended first-tier América de Belo Horizonte until the first term.
Lucas Paquetá was no longer nominated by national coach Fernando Diniz due to his possible connection in the case under investigation for the opening matches of South America’s 2026 World Cup qualifiers, where Brazil meets Bolivia and Peru.
Diniz admitted the West Ham midfielder was among those called up but decided to sack him at the last minute after information emerged in the English press that he is being investigated as part of a conspiracy of irregular betting related to his surroundings.
In the event of confirmation, MEPs want to know if the cases of Lucas Paquetá in England and Luiz Henrique in Spain are related to the network that fixed games in Brazil.
Last July, Brazil’s ordinary judiciary remanded seven soccer players and seven others accused of participating in the network as defendants in the trial.
The Goiás State Court of Justice (centre) accepted the complaint filed by the prosecutor for the tampering of thirteen results. in the first case, which was handled by the civil judiciary and singled out from the multitude of defendants in sports facilities.
The thirteen games correspond to Serie A of the 2022 Brazilian championship and they are part of the third phase of the so-called “Operation Maximum Penalty”.
Footballers Dadá Belmonte (América de Belo Horizonte), Alef Manga (separated from Coritiba) and Igor Carius (Sport Recife) have been officially charged in the case.
Also included are Uruguay’s Jesús Trindade (ex-Coritiba), Pedrinho (ex-Athleto Paranaense player and now Shakthar in Ukraine), Sidcley (ex-Cuiabá and who plays for Dinamo Kyiv in Ukraine) and Thonny Anderson (ABC de Natal). .
If convicted, the fourteen defendants face prison terms of between two and six years.
Sports Justice had already sanctioned some of these players and others who did not appear in the July verdict.
In June, the Superior Court of Sports Justice (STJD) sentenced striker Ygor Catatau, a former Vasco da Gama player who switched to Iranian football, to be dismissed for good.
The results-rigging network was exposed earlier this year and is suspected of encouraging cheating in at least 13 games played since last year, including eight in the first division.