Lebanese refs denied bail in sex-for-fixing case

A Singapore court on Wednesday denied bail to three Lebanese football referees accused of accepting free sex from a gambling-linked international syndicate to rig a match.

District judge Kamala Ponnampalam agreed with state prosecutors that there was a risk referee Ali Sabbagh, 34, and his fellow Lebanese assistants Ali Eid, 33, and Abdallah Taleb, 37, would flee Singapore if given provisional liberty.

Defence lawyer Gary Low told the court the three, who could be jailed for up to five years if convicted of corruption, plan to plead not guilty to the charges.

Eric Ding Si Yang, 31, a Singaporean businessman who allegedly supplied the prostitutes, was granted bail on Tuesday by the same judge.

"Having considered the submissions of parties, in particular that of the prosecution, I agree that in light of the recent trend where accused in match-fixing scandals have fled, most recently in 2012... that no bail is to be granted," the judge said.

The three Lebanese men were arrested for allegedly accepting sexual favours in exchange for agreeing to fix an AFC Cup match on April 3 between Singapore-based club Tampines Rovers and India's East Bengal.

They were abruptly pulled out before the match began and are being held in remand at Changi Prison.

In a written submission opposing bail for the trio, state prosecutors said referee Ali Sabbagh had been approached by Ding in "mid-2012" in Beirut.

"The seeds for the present offences were sown when all three Lebanese co-accused persons were still in their home country," the prosecution said.

"There is thus a clear international dimension to the alleged offences, strongly suggesting that they were involved in an international match-fixing syndicate," it added.

Ding, described in Singaporean media as a nightclub owner who drives an Aston Martin sports car, is facing three counts of corruption and was freed after posting bail of Sg$150,000 ($121,000).

Singapore has a long history of match-fixing, and syndicates from the wealthy Southeast Asian island have been blamed by European police for orchestrating a network responsible for rigging hundreds of games worldwide.

In February, Singapore came under pressure to act against the cartels, whose activities fuel illegal gambling estimated to be worth billions of dollars, when the head of Interpol called for the arrest of an alleged ringleader.

Singapore police later said the suspect, Tan Seet Eng or Dan Tan, was assisting investigations, but he has not been arrested or charged with any crime.

In a statement sent to AFP on Wednesday, the Kuala Lumpur-based Asian Football Confederation said it was "working closely" with Singapore football authorities in monitoring the case of the referees.

"AFC adopts a zero tolerance policy against match fixing," it said.

"In line with this policy, AFC has set up an internal task force to combat this threat which has plagued the beautiful game in Asia."

 

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