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Croatian police have detained 22 people for questioning about a match-fixing and betting scam in a nationwide anti-corruption operation linked to last year's Europe-wide betting scandal, a police statement said on Tuesday.
"After an investigation lasting several months following information received from the German police, 22 people are under suspicion of a match-fixing and betting scam. Among those under investigation are 20 Croatian and two Slovenian citizens," the statement said.
It said more people might be detained in the investigation, in which Croatian police had cooperated with those of several European countries.
In the past year Croatia has stepped up the fight against corruption and organised crime -- a key condition for its EU accession talks -- and some top managers and former government officials have been indicted or are under investigation.
Last November police in Germany, Britain, Austria and Switzerland cracked down on a match-fixing ring in what UEFA called the biggest betting scandal in Europe. [ID:nLK240693]
Some 32 matches in Germany's lower divisions and dozens of first or second division matches in Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia, Hungary, Croatia, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia were under investigation.
Croatian soccer officials said at the time that only one match in the Croatian first division had been included in the investigation.
(Reporting by Igor Ilic, edited by Tim Pearce)
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