NZ cricket match-fixing probe: Law change to stop the frauds

Sports Minister Murray McCully says match-fixing will be monitored by nine govt agencies.

Sports Minister Murray McCully announced plans late last week to make match-fixing a criminal offence.

He said the issue would be monitored by nine government agencies to preserve the integrity of elite sports in New Zealand.

This followed a report into links between organised crime and drugs in New Zealand sport after an Australian Crime Commission investigation found "no evidence of systemic use of performance-enhancing substances or the involvement of organised crime" in the country.

The report will not be made public because its information is deemed too sensitive.

Sport New Zealand, the lead agency of the three that collaborated on the report, has twice rejected Herald Official Information Act requests for information in the report.

In April, a Herald investigation revealed legal loopholes meant peptides could be easily and cheaply imported and that border seizures were at record levels last year.

Mr McCully said that while the report did not uncover any evidence of systematic doping or match-fixing, it clearly identified the dual threats of performance-enhancing drugs and match-fixing as issues requiring action.

The new inter-agency group will meet at least twice a year to share information and intelligence.