Chairman kills self after rigging fraud

BUDAPEST - Agence France-Presse

The director of Hungarian second-division side REAC, which has been mired in a match-fixing scandal, has committed suicide, his club announced on March 1.

“Our club director chose on March 1 his death. The void he leaves behind will never be filled,” the club said in a statement, expressing its “profound pain.”

Police said Robert Kutasi, 47, threw himself from the window of a building in Budapest.

Rakospalotai EAC, REAC for short, made headlines in Hungary following the arrests this week of six of its players in connection with a match-fixing affair between 2007 and 2009.

Kutasi had long fought match-fixing and in an interview with the daily Nemzeti Sport on Thursday immediately before his death, he said: “My life is over. The product of my struggle (against fraud) has been ruined. I was betrayed by people I trusted. I fought machine guns with a slingshot and I admit I lost.”

The prosecution had 19 suspects in the scandal, four of which have been detained, while some have been released from custody.

The players are alleged to have received between 500 and 2,500 euros ($660 and $3,300) for each match that was fixed.