Theme of the day: “Sports: integrity and fraud”

By bringing together representatives of sports associations, international sports experts, fraud investigators, law firms, prosecutors and other stakeholders, the Institute of Fraud Auditors (IFA) aims to set the scene to launch the social debate on Integrity and Fraud with Sports.

The virtues of sports are widely recognized. Some recent scandals revealed however that there is also a dark side. On top of that, the pandemic has put a large financial pressure on professional and amateur sports clubs which will seduce managers of sports club to gradually and unconsciously move towards the dark side.

Creating transparency and increasing awareness of the (personal) risks is the basis to move towards integrity in sports. IFA wants to play an active role in creating awareness and providing guidance on 'Integrity and Fraud Prevention in Sports'. The conference will be the official kick-off for this initiative.

Agenda of the day:

• 13h30 - 13h45 : Arrival of the guests

• 13h45 - 14h00 : Welcome speech by our President and Vice-President

• 14h00 - 14h45 : “Tennismatchfixing and illicit betting investigation” by Ann Lukowiak, Federal Magistrate at the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office

• 14h45 - 15h30 : “Introduction to the PrOFS project” by Prof. An Vermeersch, Visiting Professor of Sports Law, Institute for International Research and Criminal Policy, Ghent University

• 15h30 - 15h45 : Break

• 15h45 - 16h30 : “The origin and structure/working of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), combined with a presentation of an interesting fraud case” by Simon Cowell – Investigator ITIA and Dee Bain – Senior Investigator ITIA

• 16h30 - 17h00 : Panel debate

• 17h00 - 19h00 : Festive reception to celebrate 20 years of IFA Belgium

The event will take place at the Van Der Valk hotel Mechelen which is a unique building with a beautiful history in the vibrant city of Mechelen. Don't miss out on the opportunity to explore this splendid environment during our networking reception.