A Singaporean businessman was sentenced to three years in prison yesterday for providing prostitutes to three Lebanese soccer referees in an attempt to rig future matches.
Nightclub owner Eric Ding Si Yang, 32, was jailed on corruption charges following revelations that Singapore has become a center of gambling-linked match-fixing for matches as far away as Europe. He was found guilty on July 1 of bribing referee Ali Sabbagh, 35 and assistant referees Ali Eid, 34, and Abdallah Taleb, 38, before a match last year in Singapore.
District Judge Toh Yung Cheong said as he handed down the jail sentence that Singapore’s reputation had been tarnished by the match-fixing.
Photo: AFP
He earlier ruled that the prosecution had proven beyond reasonable doubt that Ding offered the Lebanese match officials sexual services to “induce the three of them to agree to getting involved in match-fixing.”
“The ultimate objective was to get the match officials to make decisions on the pitch that were incorrect in order to benefit the match-fixers,” Toh said.
The three Lebanese were arrested in April last year before they could officiate at an Asian Football Confederation Cup match between Singapore-based club Tampines Rovers and India’s East Bengal.
All three subsequently pleaded guilty.
Sabbagh was jailed for six months, while Eid and Taleb served three-month sentences.
When he convicted Ding on July 1, the judge dismissed as “far-fetched” the businessman’s argument that he was not a match-fixer, but a freelance journalist with a local tabloid who had an “interest in writing about match-fixing.”
State prosecutors had asked the court to hand down a stiff sentence of up to six years in jail and a maximum S$300,000 (US$242,000) fine.
“This court can show the international community our collective disdain for match-fixing with a severe sentence that would make a powerful and unambiguous statement that match-fixing and corruption in sport has no place in Singapore,” prosecutors said in their written submission.
Prosecutors said they would appeal the sentence and seek a stiffer punishment for Ding, who in turn was seeking bail pending his own appeal.
The case is a colorful addition to Singapore’s long history of match-fixing scandals. In September last year, Singapore police detained 14 people believed to be members of a global match-fixing syndicate, including the suspected mastermind Dan Tan.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was