The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC), a non-profit association established in 2015 with the goal of safeguarding esports, announced it issued an interim suspension against a popular Russia-based esports team.
The interim suspension is precautionary and does not constitute a finding of guilt
The temporary suspension, which is described by the Commission in a statement as "a precautionary integrity measure and does not constitute a finding of guilt," affects Team SENZA, which is also popular as "Rosy" after its acquisition by Senza.
The suspension comes at a time when ESIC is investigating alleged breaches by the esports team of the Anti-Corruption Code and Conde of Conduct.
The probe will seek to determine if Team SENZA was involved in potential betting-related misconduct related to matches of the team.
Moreover, ESIC will investigate alleged account-sharing and identity regularities, as well as the alleged use of external information during competition, among other matters.
The interim suspension applies to all ESIC Member Events in any tournament that adopts the Commission's Integrity Program.
This effectively means that Team SENZA's current player roster, team staff and coaches are temporarily suspended from participating in such tournaments.
However, it's worth noting that ESIC Members and Tournament operators, who support ESIC's Integrity Program are, as described by ESIC, "requested to honor this interim participation prohibition."
In other words, ESIC Members and supporters of its Integrity Program do not have to mandatorily comply with the prohibition but are rather asked to do so.
"This action is a precautionary integrity measure and does not constitute a finding of guilt. The interim suspension will remain in place pending the conclusion of ESIC’s investigation or until varied or lifted by ESIC," the Commission explained.
As with any such investigation, ESIC formally notified Team SENZA of the interim suspension and filed requests for data and other relevant information.
The Commission did not confirm when it is expected to disclose what the outcome of the investigation was but vowed to publish a relevant statement once the process is completed.
Only recently, ESIC welcomed BETBY as its latest Anti-Corruption Partner.
