West Ham player ‘summoned’ to explain himself after failing to comply with request

It’s not only in England that West Ham United star Lucas Paquetá is set to respond to the recent betting accusations.

According to reports from Brazil, the player has now been ‘summoned’ to explain himself to the local authorities.

UOL writes that Paquetá previously ignored an invite to take part in the CPI on Football Manipulation, and is now forced to go and speak to them.

A CPI is a temporary commission used by the Brazilian parliament to oversee a specific matter. In this case, as the large increase in betting on Brazilian football has resulted in the involvement of players, a major investigation was opened.

Since Paquetá obviously lives in London, the West Ham player should be authorised to speak from England on a video call. In case he still doesn’t respond, then he may have to face a coercive summons, with law enforcement agents taking him to questioning. That recently happened to Ronaldinho in a different investigation.

The Brazilian media today reported that the FA rescheduled Paquetá’s statement until next Monday. The West Ham star also escaped from that session once, claiming there was the lack of evidence, but it doesn’t seem like he’ll be able to skip it this time.