Senator Jorge Kajuru (PSB-GO), president of the CPI for the Manipulation of Games and Sports Betting, stated that the player Lucas Paquetá, accused by the English Federation of taking yellow cards on purpose to favor bets from friends, will be called to provide clarifications in the Senate Federal.
“Yes, it will, it’s heading towards that,” said Kajuru in an interview with Globo.
This week, the CPI das Apostas received relevant names from Brazilian football. Thus, the president of Palmeiras, Leila Pereira, gave a statement last Wednesday (5), making harsh criticisms of John Textor, owner of Botafogo.
“I can’t let a foreigner come here and disqualify Palmeiras’ very important title. My observations are about John Textor’s attitude, not Botafogo’s. In other words, his attitudes are a great harm to Brazilian football”, he stated.
This Thursday (6), Wilson Luiz Seneme, president of the Arbitration Commission of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), spoke in the Senate. According to him, Textor’s allegations about match manipulation are completely unfounded.
Lucas Paquetá case in English football
Paquetá is being investigated by English football’s highest governing body. This is because he is accused of receiving a yellow card in matches against Leicester, in 2022, and against Aston Villa, Leeds United and Bournemouth, in 2023.
It is estimated that around 60 people bet that the West Ham player would be cautioned by the referee in one or more of these games. All bets would have been placed from Ilha de Paquetá, in Rio de Janeiro, where the midfielder was born.
The combined winnings from these bets totaled £100,000. Betway, West Ham’s main sponsor, was the first to identify suspicious betting patterns, leading to the investigation.
The player always claimed innocence and denied having carried out any irregular act. Currently, he is preparing to compete in the Copa América with the Brazilian team. In a recent press conference, Paquetá spoke for the first time about the case.
“It will be the first and only time I will speak. I was advised by my lawyers not to comment on the case. I continue to do what I can and cooperate with the investigations, we will do our best to clarify everything.”
Player could be banned from football
The English Football Association (FA) suggests a severe punishment, which could even result in a permanent ban from the sport. Previous cases of match-fixing have seen exemplary punishments.
Stratford Town defender Kynan Isaac has been banned for ten years for betting on himself to be cautioned. Lincoln City’s Bradley Wood was banned for six years for deliberately receiving yellow cards in two FA Cup games.
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