2 Jul 2009

Football being used for money laundering

7:49 am on 2 July 2009

An investigation into football in more than 20 countries has concluded that the sport is used by criminals for activities such as money laundering and people trafficking.

The Financial Action Task Force, an international agency that tracks the proceeds of crime, says the industry's growing economic importance makes football vulnerable to money launderers.

The report also says human trafficking, corruption, drug trafficking and tax crime are linked to the sport.

It cites two examples of tax evasion by footballers in Britain and suggests that in both cases, their clubs were complicit in the scam.