The Senate‘s Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) on the Manipulation of Games and Sports Betting wishes to hear the testimony of the player Lucas Paquetá, from West Ham and the Brazilian National Team, in this second semester.
The invitation for Paquetá to appear as a witness at the CPI is not mandatory. The appearance date has yet to be defined. The president of the collegiate, senator Jorge Kajuru (PSB-GO), and the vice-president, senator Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE), presented the requests for Paquetá’s participation.
Fundamental statement
Parliamentarians consider Paquetá’s presence at the CPI essential. The player is under investigation in England and could clarify important points for the commission.
According to Kajuru, “the facts had repercussions in Brazil, as a few dozen bettors living in the player’s area of origin (the island of Paquetá, in Rio de Janeiro) bet on the athlete’s yellow cards and, therefore, were entitled to the prize” .
Understand the case of Lucas Paquetá
On May 22, the Football Association (FA) indicted Paquetá for forcing him to receive yellow cards in four Premier League games, between November 2022 and August 2023. Therefore, the European entity’s investigations indicate that the objective would be to benefit the betting market.
The FA stated that “he sought to directly influence the progress, conduct or any other aspect or occurrence of these matches by intentionally seeking to receive a card from the referee with the improper purpose of affecting the betting market so that one or more people could profit.”
Lucas Paquetá denies the accusations and, on his social networks, stated that he cooperated with the investigations and that he is innocent. “I am extremely surprised and upset that the FA have decided to charge me. I cooperated with all stages of the investigation and provided all the information I could during these 9 months.
I deny the accusations completely and will fight with all my strength to clear my name. Due to the ongoing process, I will not provide any further comments,” declared the midfielder.
What does the Betting CPI do?
Senator Romário (PL-RJ) opened the CPI for Manipulation of Games and Sports Betting to investigate fraud in Brazilian football results. Thus, the commission aims to investigate possible involvement of players, managers and others involved.
Finally, among the people already interviewed are John Textor, owner of SAF do Botafogo, the president of São Paulo, Julio Casares, and the president of Palmeiras, Leila Pereira.
