The head of the Confederation of African Football's (CAF) Disciplinary Committee Raymond Hack has promised to look into the match-fixing allegations during the Esperance and MC Alger encounter.
Esperance and MC Alger faced each other on the final matchday of the CAF champions League group stage last Saturday.
While the game didn't have much importance to Esperance who had already secured their spot in the quarter-finals, MC Alger needed at least one point to join them.
On the other hand, zamalek who sat in third place needed to beat Senegal's Teungueth, which they managed to do, and for Esperance to win.
Both games were played at the same time and things looked promising for the White Knights at half-time as they had a four-goal lead, while Esperance were winning 1-0.
However, there were many question marks regarding Esperance's performance in the second half as they barely crossed the halfway line and when they did, they didn't pose any real danger.
Moreover, Esperance head coach moïne chaâbani decided to bring off a number of his key players in the second period, most notably Anice Badri, Taha Khenissi, Hamdou Elhouni, and goalscorer Nassim Ben Khalifa.
Therefore, there were many speculations about Esperance deliberately letting their neighbours get the point in order to knock Zamalek out.
READ: No conspiracy against Zamalek, says head coach Carteron
The Zamalek board seem to support this theory as they revealed that they would be sending an official complaint to CAF as soon as they get enough evidence to support their case.
Raymond Hack confirmed that an investigation will take place and if there's any evidence of match-fixing the necessary steps will be taken.
“The committee deals with all matches that are played within the scope of the CAF competitions,” Hack told OnTime Sport TV.
“The committee is not authorized to monitor matches. This is done by the match supervisor who is authorized to follow the match along with the general coordinator and the security official.
“What happens is that after the reports are submitted regarding incidents that occurred during the match, they are considered and investigated by the Disciplinary Committee. If there's anything worth discussing, there are rules and regulations to intervene in the event of any violation.
“After that, there will be a hearing session with the teams involved to ensure that dealing with the complaint is objective and to make sure that this incident doesn't affect the results of their future matches.
“If there's any evidence of these incidents, the committee shall take its decision based on the bylaws and the rules.
“The committee has the authority to investigate anything even if it's not included in the match report. The committee follows up on matches, and if it feels that something is wrong, it has the authority to follow the matches and verify everything that happens.
“Any party can file a complaint if there is any suspicion of non-compliance with the rules and regulations.
“Any report that comes to the committee is taken into consideration and the report is reviewed with the referee of the match if there's something wrong with it.
“The CAF administration continues to make sure that nothing out of the normal has occurred, even if this matter wasn't present in the supervisor's report, but conclusive evidence must be provided.
“I can't specify our position, but the committee can impose penalties, replay the match, suspend the player or the club, or deduct points if tampering is proven in accordance with the regulations.
“If there is an agreement between the clubs to disobey the rules, the Disciplinary Committee must be aware of the matter. And if the committee doesn't prove it, the way the match was played will be considered and if anyone tried to influence the referee's decision.
“Every time a referral is made to the Disciplinary Committee, there will be a hearing for the complainant, who comes with evidence, and a hearing session for the accused in the accident in order to defend themselves,” he concluded.
