Match-fixers targeted in English crackdown

SINGAPORE — Football match-fixers are running out of places to hide — that is the message from the English Football Association (FA), after it confirmed a new crackdown which involves increased law enforcement, as well as football clubs and gambling bodies working together in a bid to rid the game of the curse completely.

The move replaces traditional approaches to enforcement and “is the best system in the world by far to combat the scourge of modern football”, claims Darren Bailey, Director of Football Governance and regulation.

The result is that a number of footballers suspected of being involved in match-fixing are now being monitored, the Mail on Sunday revealed earlier this month.

With ministers from around 50 European countries expected to adopt a new “Convention on the manipulation of sports competitions” in the coming weeks, the noose will be tightened further.

Speaking after delivering a speech on English football’s integrity at Sports Matters at the Marina Bay Sands yesterday, Bailey outlined the coordinated strategy.

“Firstly you’ve got to have clear rules, and we have rules on match-fixing, betting and the use of insider information,” said Bailey. “We also monitor markets and receive information from betting operators from around the world if there are suspicious betting activities.”

The FA’s role, added Bailey, is limited to taking action against errant footballers and those under their jurisdiction, but it is widening the net.

“We also work with law enforcement agencies and the government to make sure we have legislation that is effective … but you need law enforcement and government to work together.”

To escalate the fight against match-fixing, the National Crime Agency (NCA) with the power to go after fixers was formed in March last year.

The move paid off almost immediately with the arrest and conviction of Krishna Sanjey Ganeshan, the ringleader of a match-fixing syndicate in London, and accomplice Chann Sankaran. They were found guilty of conspiracy to commit bribery relating to Football League Championship matches in November 2013. It is thought the pair were linked to a Singapore match-fixing syndicate which Europol and other international crime agencies have since broken up.

Singaporean Wilson Raj Perumal, who is responsible for hundreds of fixed matches around the world, was in the syndicate, and was jailed for match-fixing here in 1995, and in 2011 was arrested in Finland and sentenced to two years in prison. He recently revealed a global network of match-fixers based in Singapore, and alleged that Dan Tan, who is under detention here, was the boss of the operation.

Bailey declined to reveal if cases the FA is probing in the UK have any connection with possible local syndicates, “I don’t know much about the local Singapore situation, but the idea is zero tolerance and make sure you act swiftly, using the most effective means possible,” he said.

“You have got to make sure you have the law enforcement, and the relevant laws, powers and resources to deal with it. In the UK we feel we now have that model.”