Handball referees claim bribes were offered during World Handball Championship

The Danish referees Mads Hansen and Martin Gjeding report that they were offered bribes before a match in Romania during the World Handball Championship in June 2008.

”We were offered a cash payment of 30.000 Euro. We were surprised by the scale of the offer, because it is a fairly significant amount of money. But Martin and I (...) have an ethical code of conduct that self-evidently we do not accept bribes,” said the referees according to Danish national television TV2.

In response, the President of the Romanian Handball Federation Christian Gatu threatened to take the referees to court.

”I have just been informed about the claims from Denmark today. If these claims had had any truth to them, the EHF would have taken action a long time ago. Tomorrow I will file a complaint to the EHF and if necessary I will press criminal charges against the referees because of their accusations.

Both referees deserve severe punishments if this proves not to be truthful,” the President of the Romanian Handball Federation Christian Gatu told Danish TV2.