Snooker world number one John Higgins has been banned for six months and fined £75,000 for breaching betting rules, but has been cleared of the most serious charge of match-fixing. The sanction follows allegations published in the News of the World in May, which claimed Higgins and his manager Pat Mooney had agreed to lose frames in four matches in exchange for £261,000 during a meeting in Kiev.
World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn immediately suspended Higgins and vowed to clean up the sport when the story broke. However, both Higgins and Mooney vigorously protested their innocence, claiming they felt intimidated and would have agreed to anything at the meeting to get home safely.
At a two-day hearing in London, Higgins admitted to “intentionally giving the impression to others that they were agreeing to act in breach of the betting rules” and failing to report the matter to World Snooker. However, the more serious charges of “agreeing or offering” to accept bribes and “agreeing to engage in corrupt or fraudulent conduct” were withdrawn by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA).
Higgins’ six-month ban has been backdated to May, when his original suspension began. He will also pay £10,000 towards the hearing’s costs. Meanwhile, Pat Mooney, who was found to have placed Higgins in “a highly invidious position” by being “entirely responsible for Mr Higgins’ presence in Kiev”, has been banned from further involvement in snooker for life.
After the hearing, Higgins said in a statement: “I welcome today’s judgment by Sport Resolutions and endorsed by the WPBSA following their exhaustive inquiry into the allegations against me by a tabloid newspaper. I am pleased that Sport Resolutions and WPBSA have concluded, after a thorough and fair investigation, that I was not guilty of any dishonesty and had no intention to fix a match and no intention to do anything corrupt.” He described the past few months as “traumatic” but pledged to return to snooker a “stronger person”.
