The investigation, undertaken by the Sarıyer Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, has widened with this second wave of detentions. The 10 suspects were sent to the İstanbul Police Department financial crimes unit after initial processing was completed locally. Sağır was picked up by police in the northern province of Samsun. The detainees also included former referee Uğur Demirhan, who was also taken into custody in Samsun, and former owner of third-division Hatayspor Mehmet Şaşmaz.
The police initiated a mass match-fixing raid on March 24 as a result of which 27 suspects including former soccer players and administrators have been arrested while around 50 others have been detained. Former international defender Fatih Akyel, part of the Turkish national team that came third in the 2002 World Cup, was arrested after the first wave of detentions and remanded in custody on charges of fraud and gang membership. State Minister for Sports Faruk Özak said after the initial detentions that the investigation into the issue of match-fixing had been going on since August.
Sağır was transferred to Çaykur Rizespor from Malatyaspor during this season’s recess. Following his detention, Çaykur Rizespor made a statement saying that he had already been sidelined because of problems in his personal life and because he had missed training sessions without the club’s permission.
