Kelong Kings: Confessions of the world's most prolific match-fixer (42 page)

On
October 11
^th
,
2009, Danny was ready to do business with the Sudanese team, which
was supposed to play away to Mali. Danny's trip to Bamako, Mali, was
also a chance to get in touch with the person responsible for the
allocation of referees within CAF. His name was Toumani
,
he was a member of the CAF Referees Committee and of FIFA's Executive
Committee. Danny met Toumani and handed him ten thousand dollars to
make sure that my referees could officiate some 2010 FIFA World Cup
qualifiers and other important fixtures. We had struck a deal and
Danny returned to Singapore.

Three days later,
Honduras was scheduled to play their final World Cup qualifying match
away against El Salvador. They needed to win in order to qualify for
the final rounds of the South African World Cup without having to
compete in the play-offs. Through Armando we had hooked up with the
El Salvadorean national team and Bee Hoon was on the ground to make
things happen for me. We wanted El Salvador to lose by two goals but,
before I could place any wagers on the match, Bee Hoon had already
splashed 200 thousand dollars of his own on it, thus ruining the odds
for me. Unluckily for him, Honduras played a very cautious match.
They rarely attacked and settled for a single goal, which they netted
in the second half. Unbeknownst to them, I had contributed to
Honduras' qualification to the 2010 World Cup.

The only reason I
went to Finland in October 2009 was because Mega invited me there. He
wasn't working for me when he came up with the proposal: "There
is potential business to be done in Finland. What do you think?"

I
never really enjoyed doing business in Europe because there were
already too many
fish
in that pond. Ante and Milan, Admir,
Dino and many others were already fixing European matches and I
didn't want to dirty my hands there, nor end up caught in the
crossfire. Eastern Europeans are corrupt to the core and extremely
dangerous so you better not fuck around in their territory. Albania,
for one, is home to one of the biggest football mafias; they've been
gambling on Asian websites since 2007 or 2008. Belarus is another
country where there is plenty of fixing in the lower divisions,
sometimes matches will end 6-0, 7-0; they are all corrupt. Latvia,
Estonia, they are all doing business.
If
only they could get a hold of the kind of betting houses that we have
in Asia, their leagues would become like the Malaysian one: the most
corrupt in the world.
Just
like everyone else, Eastern European players are willing to do
anything to make a living; the average salary of a footballer there
is usually between one and two thousand euro per month.

Mega and I used to
search the internet for teams with the highest number of black
players in their lineup and Mega had found a Finnish club, Rovaniemen
Palloseura (RoPS), that had eight Zambians in its formation. Since
they were all from the same nation, it meant that approaching one
would be like approaching them all; it made things a lot easier. Mega
set up an account on a social network under the pseudonym of Simon
Mega Diamond, then sent friendship requests to some of the Zambian
RoPS players and began chatting with them.

"OK", I
said, "we'll go to Finland and see if something can actually be
done with these Zambians".

In mid-October 2009,
on the eve of RoPS' last match of the season, Mega and I traveled
from Singapore to Helsinki, then on to Rovaniemi, a minuscule town on
the edge of the arctic circle that is the self-proclaimed home of
Santa Claus. RoPS had a tradition for signing Zambian players thanks
to their striker Zeddy, who had topped the club's goal-scoring charts
for over a decade. Zeddy had set up a RoPS academy back home and
fetched Zambian players for transfer to the Finnish club. He had just
turned 40 and the coming match was to be his last appearance as
player-coach for RoPS.

Mega
and I checked into the Cumulus Hotel in downtown Rovaniemi
and
then met with
two of the Zambian RoPS players that Mega had contacted on the
internet: Musonda and White.
Musonda
had golden hair and, when an African has golden hair, you'll never
lose sight of him.
When
we met the pair, the first thing I asked them was how much they were
being paid.

"One thousand
euro per month", they replied.

The Zambians
actually received a gross salary of around two thousand euro but
lived in apartments provided by RoPS that were located right above
the Bingo hall managed by the club. In addition to housing, the
players also received food vouchers so, after the expenses for
accommodation and food were deducted from their salary, they were
left with a net worth of only one thousand euro per month. In my
view, they were modern day slaves just like the Sporting Afrique
players in Singapore had been a few years before them: playing
professional football in the Finnish top division and being paid the
salary of a domestic worker; it was totally absurd.

"Why
earn a thousand when you can make ten thousand euro per match?"
I
incited
.

The
RoPS players were no novices; they were like prostitutes.
Mega,
who
was also in
contact with Zeddy, was told that the Zambian footballers were fixing
matches with Russian and Eastern European match-fixers long before
our arrival. I later found out from Dan that Dino had also done
business with them a month prior to our visit in Rovaniemi. RoPS had
fixed so many matches during that year's season that they had ended
up being relegated from the Finnish first division, Veikkausliiga, to
the second division, Ykkonen. Despite their previous fixing
experiences, the players were a bunch of young, stubborn,
mother-fuckers. They couldn't get the job done and that's why most of
the other match-fixers had left them to fare on their own. Mega and I
considered that we could step in, take on the gamble and grab the
opportunity to build a relationship with the players.

"Since you are
relegated", I told Musonda and White, "it looks like there
is not going to be any betting tomorrow".

I fished 20 thousand
US dollars from my bag and handed the money to them.

"Here are ten
thousand dollars for each of you", I said. "We'll catch up
during the next season".

You see, if I
approach you and ask, "Do you want to fix?" and you say,
"No, I don't like to fix", then I respect your principles
and your integrity.

I don't force anyone
to throw a match. I don't coerce or put a gun to your head and say,
"You must do this". I just offer you an alternative.

"Would you like
to make more money than you are earning right now?"

If
you answer "yes", you pawn your integrity and you come
along with me.
After
saving Musonda's and White's contacts, Mega and I returned to
Singapore.

Later that month, I
traveled to Abuja, Nigeria, for the 2009 FIFA Under-17 World Cup. By
then I had traveled extensively around much of the world but Nigeria
really made my heart skip a beat. When I walked out of the airport I
saw flocks of illegal money changers and taxi drivers eyeing me like
vultures eye an agonizing prey. I had gone there just to watch the
matches and, while I was in town, met with Prince, my agent on the
ground. Prince had arranged a meeting between myself and a Nigeria FF
official at Abuja's Hilton Hotel. The World Cup in South Africa was
at the door and, with just one World Cup qualifying match to go,
Nigeria was lagging two points behind Tunisia. The Nigerians were set
to play their last game away in Nairobi against Kenya, while the
Tunisian Eagles of Carthage were traveling to Maputo to face
Mozambique. Had they won, the Tunisians would have automatically
qualified for the final rounds of the World Cup. At that point,
Nigeria was virtually out of contention.

"We need to
make it to the World Cup", pleaded the Nigerian official. "Can
you help us out?"

"I can help you
win the match against Kenya", I explained. "But, looking at
the standings, even if you win in Nairobi, you'll still be eliminated
if the Tunisians beat Mozambique. A victory won't make a difference
and you'll be out".

I didn't really care
who made it to South Africa, whether it be Tunisia or Nigeria; the
only factor pushing me in the Nigerian camp was our long-standing
business relationship. I tried to figure out a potential solution.

"Look here",
I proposed, "this is the deal. I can send a letter to the
Mozambique FA president promising them a 100 thousand dollar
sponsorship deal if they fight Tunisia to a loss or a draw. There is
no guarantee that this ploy will produce the result that we want
because I have no power over Tunisia's match, except for the letter
and the promise. But you'll get your three points against Kenya;
that, I can guarantee. I have some players in the Kenyan team".

The Nigerian
official was happy with my proposal.

"I'll arrange a
meeting tomorrow with my boss", he promised.

On the following
day, I met with the official's superior.

"I'm the CEO of
a Singaporean company called Football4U", I introduced myself.
"I have worked with Nigeria in the past. We had your team
invited and flown to the Inter Continental Cup in Malaysia right
before the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Your federation is familiar with
me: your people know me and I know them. Now listen, you need to win
against Kenya and I am ready to make it happen. It's as good as done.
Then I'll also take care of Tunisia in Mozambique. You do want to go
to the World Cup, don't you?"

"Sure we do",
said the Nigeria FF executive. "But are you positive that you
can do this?"

He could not bring
himself to believe me. Nigerians all have the same problem; they
don't trust you unless you flaunt your wealth under their nose.

"Listen",
I said, "I can make it happen, don't worry. You send a couple of
guys to Mozambique to watch the Tunisia match while you and I, we sit
together in Nairobi. Watch me execute both".

I couldn't really
promise both results, I could only dangle the carrot.

"Now we come to
my part of the deal", I continued. "I don't want anything
from you but, if Nigeria qualifies for the World Cup, you let my
company take care of your training package. FIFA is going to give you
one million dollars to prepare for South Africa. I will arrange your
training camp and three World Cup warm-up friendly matches for you; I
will choose which teams you'll face and who the match officials will
be. Is that OK with you?"

When a team
qualifies for the final rounds of the World Cup, FIFA gives their FA
nine million dollars. One million goes to their warm-up training and
then, as the World Cup begins, they get the remaining eight million.
So why not accept my deal? I'm the only one who can get you there in
the first place. Had I spoken to the Tunisians, I am sure that they
too would have agreed.

"OK, no
problem", the Nigerian executive was pleased. "You can have
the training camp and the three matches. Just make sure that we make
it to South Africa".

I knew that I could
easily find three corrupt teams to play warm-up friendly matches
against Nigeria prior to the World Cup. I was also sure that, there
being no other games played around the world at that time, any
warm-up friendly leading to the World Cup would be up for gambling
with huge betting volumes. With three matches in hand, I could have
easily made up to five million Singapore dollars.

"The training
camp will cost half a million dollars", I concluded, "but I
will budget 700 thousand and make sure 200 thousand finds its way
back into your pockets".

I was trying to make
sure that we had a deal.

"All right",
he said. "Let's do it".

The ball was
rolling.

After my meeting
with the Nigeria FF, I headed to the casino inside Abuja's Hilton
Hotel. There were quite a few Nigerian Muslims sitting around the
roulette table; I recognized them from the knitted hats and the loose
vests that covered them from head to toe. I stepped up to the
roulette to take a peek and maybe place a few dollars but they
weren't making room for me. One of them turned to look at me with
scorn.

"This table is
for big boys only", he said arrogantly.