Israeli Sports Minister Matan Vilnai asked the police Wednesday to open an investigation into football referees suspected of taking bribes to fix matches.
"I have asked the police to open an investigation into this matter," Vilnai said on Israeli army radio.
The radio said at least four referees in the three top divisions were said to have taken kickbacks from professional gamblers to sway their judgements.
The radio quoted an anonymous gambler saying that with "several thousand dollars you can influence the refereeing of a match."
It added that certain corrupt referees had themselves placed bets through an intermediary on matches that they then officiated.
The head of the professional standards committee of the Association of Israeli Referees, Zvi Rosen, said his own organization had looked into the issue in recent months but had found nothing amiss -- AFP
