World snooker number one John Higgins has been suspended from all World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) tournaments pending an investigation into match-fixing claims, its chairman said Sunday. 'Whilst we're not saying he's guilty of anything... these revelations are such there's a case he has to answer,' Barry Hearn told the BBC, adding he would be suspended while the investigation took place. Britain's News of the World newspaper released a video Sunday showing what it said was Higgins and his manager Pat Mooney agreeing to lose frames in four matches later this year in return for a 261,000-pound (about400,000 U.S. dollars) bribe. Hearn added that Higgins would face an 'extreme penalty' if the allegation was proved and that it was vital that the 'integrity of the game is protected at any costs'. 'If there's any doubt about that repute we have to take it seriously,' he said. 