WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) New Zealand will establish an organization formed from nine government agencies to tackle threats of organized crime, match fixing and doping in sport.
The formation of the group, announced Friday by sports minister Murray McCully, follows a confidential report, compiled over nine months, into links between organized crime and drugs in New Zealand sport.
The report found "no evidence of systemic use of performance-enhancing substances or the involvement of organized crime" but McCully said it would be naive to believe New Zealand was insulated from such problems.
He said new Zealand was taking pre-emptive steps to safeguard its "clean sporting reputation' which would include making match-fixing a criminal offense.
