Striker Jarro Pedroso, from Inter de Santa Maria, was punished, last Tuesday, 30, with a suspension of 720 days (two years) and a fine of R$ 100,000 by the Court of Sports Justice of Rio Grande do Sul (TJD-RS) for participating in a match-fixing scheme in the 2023 edition of the Campeonato Gaúcho.
The player made an agreement with punters to commit a penalty in the first half of the game, held on February 12 of this year, between São Luiz, his team at the time, and Caxias. Jarro fulfilled the agreement and committed a foul inside the area at 15 minutes of the initial stage of the confrontation, which ended with a 3-1 victory for Caxias.
Within the scope of the Maximum Penalty operation, carried out by the Public Ministry of Goiás (MP-GO), Jarro acknowledged the irregularities and was not criminally prosecuted. However, in the sports field, punishment still fit, according to Agência Brasil.
The attacker’s judgment would be held last week together with that of full-back Nikolas Farias (punished with a fine of BRL 80,000 and 720 days of suspension for participating in a scheme to commit a penalty against Esportivo in the 2023 Gaúcho competition). for which he defended Novo Hamburgo), but it was postponed after the player’s defense asked for more time to better elaborate the defense strategy.
Operation Maximum Penalty and investigations into match-fixing scheme
The MP-GO investigation into the match-fixing scheme emerged in February, based on a complaint made by the president of Vila Nova, Hugo Jorge Bravo.
On that occasion, the director revealed that Romário accepted R$ 150,000 to commit a penalty in the first half of the game against Sport. Bravo was one of the first guests of the Chamber of Deputies’ Sports Betting CPI last Tuesday, the 30th.
Subsequently, in April, the MP-GO expanded the scope of investigations, starting to investigate possible irregular events in last year’s Series A matches and this year’s state championships.
