Feb 5 2013, 06:28 PM
KL to probe involvement in global football fixing
By Boo Su-Lyn
February 05, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 5 — The police here said today they will investigate if Malaysian syndicates or individuals are involved in fixing hundreds of European and Asian football matches in a global betting scam run from Singapore that has become a major blow to the image of the world’s most popular sport and a multi-billion dollar industry.
About 680 suspicious matches including qualifying games for the World Cup and European Championships, and the Champions League for top European club sides, have been identified in an inquiry by European police forces, the European anti-crime agency Europol and national prosecutors.
Europol, which is the European Union’s joint police organisation, said yesterday that the crime syndicate based in Singapore was involved in fixing games in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America from 2008 to 2011.
“ If this involves Malaysia, we’ll (be) in contact with them, ” federal police CID chief Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin told The Malaysian Insider today, referring to Europol.
He added that Europol and Interpol had not yet contacted the Malaysian police.
US newspaper The New York Times reported yesterday that Interpol has issued an international arrest warrant for a Singaporean called Dan Tan, who was identified as the ringleader of the Asian syndicate, but that Tan has yet to be detained.
Malaysian and Singapore betting syndicates have often worked in tandem in the past.
Malaysians have also been previously involved in match-fixing in English football games.
Europol said that the corruption has affected football’s three biggest competitions, which are the UEFA Champions League and qualifying games for the European Championship and the World Cup, according to The Washington Post.
Europol officials believe that the crime syndicate based in Asia was working with criminal networks in Europe, UK daily The Guardian reported yesterday.
They added that match-fixing has spread across 15 countries and 50 people have been arrested so far.
The New York Times reported that fixers would place bets on tainted games through bookmakers in Asia, while individual bribes could go higher than US$136,000 (RM420,988).
Suspicious games include about 150 international matches mostly in Asia, Latin America and Africa; and about 380 games in Europe covering World Cup and European championship qualifiers, as well as two Champions League games, and games from lower-division semiprofessional matches to contests in top domestic leagues.
Last month, local English daily New Straits Times reported the Football Association of Malaysia as saying that it was taking pro-active measures to eliminate match-fixing in local football.
Terengganu has had three former national players investigated, while Malaysian referee Shokri Nor was charged in Singapore for receiving a bribe to fix a Super League match.
FAM has also banned 18 President’s Cup players for two to five years, while a former Negri Sembilan youth coach was suspended for life for match-fixing, according to NST.
Chris Eaton, who is the former head of security of the International Federation of Association Football, has also reportedly implicated local football administrators on match-fixing in Southeast Asia.
Sources : http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/
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