John Higgins cleared of match-fixing claims
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Higgins pleased with match-fix inquiry outcome
John Higgins has been cleared of all match-fixing allegations made against him by the News of the World.
But at a hearing in London he admitted bringing the game into disrepute by not reporting the illegal approach made to him to discuss throwing frames.
As a result, the three-time world champion was fined £75,000 and banned for six months, backdated to May when he was originally suspended.
Higgins, 35, said later he accepted the decision by an independent tribunal.
"I welcome today's judgement by Sport Resolutions and endorsed by the WPBSA following their exhaustive enquiry into the allegations against me by a tabloid newspaper," the Scot said in a statement.
He added that he was pleased that the tribunal had concluded that "I was not guilty of any dishonesty and had no intention to fix a match and no intention to do anything corrupt".
In my 18 years playing professional snooker I have never deliberately missed a shot, never mind intentionally lost a frame or a match
John Higgins
And he repeated his statement from May, made immediately after the accusations were made by the Sunday newspaper.
"I have never been involved in any form of snooker match fixing," Higgins stated.
"In my 18 years playing professional snooker I have never deliberately missed a shot, never mind intentionally lost a frame or a match.
"If I am guilty of anything it is of naivety and trusting those who, I believed, were working in the best interests of snooker and myself."
Higgins also pledged to "be back... and be back winning". His suspension ends in November.
At the hearing, Higgins was handed the suspension and fine after admitting "intentionally giving the impression to others that they were agreeing to act in breach of the betting rules" and failing to report the matter to World Snooker.
However, the charges of "agreeing or offering" to accept bribes and "agreeing to engage in corrupt or fraudulent conduct" were dropped.
The behind-closed-doors tribunal was conducted by Sport Resolutions UK, an independent dispute resolution service.
Higgins was suspended after he and his then manager Pat Mooney were filmed by the Sunday newspaper allegedly accepting £261,000 to fix matches.
The paper published the story on 2 May.
The video appeared to show Higgins and Mooney meeting with an undercover reporter in Kiev, Ukraine, and agreeing to alter the outcome of frames in return for money.
The newspaper alleged that Higgins inquired at the meeting about the best way to conceal the 300,000 euros (£261,000) he would receive for losing frames in four separate matches.
In a published transcript, Higgins said it would be easy to affect the outcome of a frame.
Higgins has won 21 ranking titles during his career.
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Higgins pleased with match-fix inquiry outcome
John Higgins has been cleared of all match-fixing allegations made against him by the News of the World.
But at a hearing in London he admitted bringing the game into disrepute by not reporting the illegal approach made to him to discuss throwing frames.
As a result, the three-time world champion was fined £75,000 and banned for six months, backdated to May when he was originally suspended.
Higgins, 35, said later he accepted the decision by an independent tribunal.
"I welcome today's judgement by Sport Resolutions and endorsed by the WPBSA following their exhaustive enquiry into the allegations against me by a tabloid newspaper," the Scot said in a statement.
He added that he was pleased that the tribunal had concluded that "I was not guilty of any dishonesty and had no intention to fix a match and no intention to do anything corrupt".
In my 18 years playing professional snooker I have never deliberately missed a shot, never mind intentionally lost a frame or a match
John Higgins
And he repeated his statement from May, made immediately after the accusations were made by the Sunday newspaper.
"I have never been involved in any form of snooker match fixing," Higgins stated.
"In my 18 years playing professional snooker I have never deliberately missed a shot, never mind intentionally lost a frame or a match.
"If I am guilty of anything it is of naivety and trusting those who, I believed, were working in the best interests of snooker and myself."
Higgins also pledged to "be back... and be back winning". His suspension ends in November.
At the hearing, Higgins was handed the suspension and fine after admitting "intentionally giving the impression to others that they were agreeing to act in breach of the betting rules" and failing to report the matter to World Snooker.
However, the charges of "agreeing or offering" to accept bribes and "agreeing to engage in corrupt or fraudulent conduct" were dropped.
The behind-closed-doors tribunal was conducted by Sport Resolutions UK, an independent dispute resolution service.
Higgins was suspended after he and his then manager Pat Mooney were filmed by the Sunday newspaper allegedly accepting £261,000 to fix matches.
The paper published the story on 2 May.
The video appeared to show Higgins and Mooney meeting with an undercover reporter in Kiev, Ukraine, and agreeing to alter the outcome of frames in return for money.
The newspaper alleged that Higgins inquired at the meeting about the best way to conceal the 300,000 euros (£261,000) he would receive for losing frames in four separate matches.
In a published transcript, Higgins said it would be easy to affect the outcome of a frame.
Higgins has won 21 ranking titles during his career.
