Five Kenyan first division football referees have been suspended on a temporary basis over charges of match fixing and manipulation of local Premier League results, the federation said on Saturday.
According to the Kenya Football Federation (FKF), this decision was taken to preserve the integrity of the competitions, called into question by a large-scale investigation launched after the lifetime exclusion by FIFA in February 2020 of four players who participated to "an international conspiracy to rig matches".
Two of the suspended referees on Saturday, Raymond Onyango and Isaac Memusi, were removed from the FIFA referee roster at the start of the season after failing physical tests.
"The ethics department of the federation, with the assistance of FIFA, has started preliminary investigations against these individuals in order to establish their involvement, if there is any, in these manipulations of matches", declared FKF General Secretary Barry Otieno in a statement.
In May, FIFA announced the relegation of Zoo Kericho, a major Kenyan football club involved in match-fixing, from the national first division.
Barry Otieno said the federation remains confident in the integrity of the Kenyan Premier League.
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