FOLLOWING the match-fixing allegation by former Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) are neither denying nor confirming if an investigation will take place.
The world governing body have made it clear through their website that they will not announce, comment or confirm any of their investigative activities.
If any, BWF will only make a public comment after a hearing has taken place with a finding against a player or other person.
Earlier this week, Indonesian Taufik made a shocking revelation about being allegedly approached by a Malaysian official at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha to throw a semi-final match against Lee Chong Wei.
Taufik was not tempted by the offer, which was said to be double the amount (RM60,000) that was promised by the Indonesian government for winning a tournament. He went on to defeat Chong Wei and subdue China's Lin Dan in the final.
Taufik, who spoke to an Indonesian reporter, however, did not reveal the identity of the official, apart from noting that he was a former national player.
Chong Wei who said he was not aware of the incident, did not want to name and shame the person, after learning about it from Taufik.
It remains to be seen if BWF would open a new case, even after 15 years. They had banned two former independent players, Zulfadli Zulkiffli and Tan Chun Seang for 20 and 15 years respectively in 2018, for match-fixing.
BWF have a range of measures to investigate doping, match-fixing and other forms of corrupt behaviour. Their Integrity Unit may enlist external organisations and individuals, including the police, customs officials and anti-corruption agencies in other countries to assist in investigations where the BWF do not have jurisdiction.
It is understood that investigation can include any of the following elements — analysis of betting data and patterns, interviews with any person of interest, using intelligence provided through the whistle blower system, patterns of play in competition, patterns of competition and training as well as whereabouts information, players' anti-doping test results and data from biological passports.
