Meanwhile, Barry Hearn, chairman of the sport's governing body, insisted the sport can recover from the allegations and is determined to "cure the malaise" but believes the players are ultimately responsible for snooker's future.

Hearn stated that Pat Mooney, Higgins' manager, has "no future in snooker". Mooney accompanied Higgins in Kiev when the pair were filmed by the Sunday newspaper.

New world number one Higgins denies any wrong-doing and has vowed to clear his name. In a statement he said he became worried during the Kiev meeting and suspected those involved were Russian Mafia.

In the statement issued on Saturday, Higgins said: "When it was suggested that I throw frames in return for large sums of money, I was really spooked, I just wanted to get out of the hotel and onto the plane home."

However Hearn believes Higgins should have got in touch from the moment he was aware of any trouble.

"One of the reasons I was so upset with the video evidence etcetera was I didn't get a phone call," Hearn said.

"If someone approaches, and I can't stop people outside approaching players, what I can say is it's their responsibility to report that instance immediately so the authorities are aware and can act on them."

Hearn repeated his view that the case should be dealt with swiftly, stressing it would be over in days and weeks rather than months and years.

However, Hearn has no doubts over the validity of any results at the World Championship this year.

"I have none whatsoever because I have no proof, I have no innuendo even," he said.

"People will speculate but so far we have had no instances whatsoever of any unusual betting patterns during this event.

"We have no evidence whatsoever of any player that we didn't think was giving 100%, and I'm very confident that is the case within this tournament.

"While the rules are the same for a small event as a big event, the integrity issues remain exactly the same. But I've seen nothing to suggest any impropriety during this event at all."