Three-time World Snooker champion John Higgins has been found not guilty of all bribery claims brought against him by the News of the World.
A hearing did find, however, that he was guilty of bringing the game into disrepute by failing to report the illegal approach made to him and his manager, Pat Mooney, about throwing frames in certain matches.
Higgins, who has strenuously denied the allegations, defended himself for nine hours on Tuesday at a two-day tribunal hearing in London. The behind-closed-doors tribunal was conducted by Sport Resolutions UK, a London-based independent dispute resolution service.
The 35-year old Scot was fined £75,000 (€91,217) and suspended for six months, backdated to May from when he was originally suspended. Higgins will be free to play snooker again from 1 November.
In an undercover sting by the News of the World, Higgins and Mooney had been caught on camera at a meeting in Kiev saying that they would accept a sum of £261,000 (€300,000), to throw different frames in four separate matches.
In a published transcript, Higgins said it would be easy to affect the outcome of a frame. The News of the World published the story on 2 May, the first day of this year’s World Snooker Championship final between Neil Robertson and Graeme Dott.
