Two men suspected of involvement with an international match-fixing ring targeting English football have been charged with conspiracy to defraud, while five others were released on bail as the investigation continues.
The newly constituted National Crime Agency confirmed that Chann Sankaran, a 33-year-old Singapore national, and Krishna Sanjey Ganeshan, a 43-year-old with dual UK and Singapore nationality, had been charged.
The pair, charged with conspiring together and with others “to defraud bookmakers by influencing the course of football matches and placing bets thereon”, have been remanded in custody and will appear before Cannock magistrates today.
They were among six people arrested earlier this week following a Daily Telegraph investigation that appeared to show a fixer explaining how he could influence the outcome of matches by paying players £50,000 to guarantee a minimum number of goals.
The Telegraph reported that during a secretly recorded meeting with a fixer, he also said that he had influenced World Cup qualifiers and matches in other countries.
“I do Australia, Scotland, Ireland, Europe, World Cup, World Cup qualifier,” he said, and claimed to control the entire team for one African country. He also claimed to be able to influence referees.
A seventh man was arrested yesterday, the NCA said, and he and four others were bailed pending further inquiries.
They are understood to include Delroy Facey, a former journeyman striker turned agent who once played for Bolton in the top flight but now lives in Huddersfield and turns out for Albion Sports in the NCEL Premier League.
The charges represent the first time British authorities have amassed enough evidence to make arrests in a case linking attempts to fix matches in England with gangs benefiting from the huge $500billion illicit gambling market in Asia.
Growing fears
The matches concerned are believed to be non-league games, and there have been growing fears for some time that fixers are targeting the Football Conference and the tiers immediately below.
The latest developments will be taken as proof that English football can no longer ignore the match-fixing claims that have swept Europe and the world in recent years, as the British government came under fire for not doing more to fund the fight against corruption in sport.
Soren Kragh Pedersen, from the European Union policy agency Europol, said the news wasn’t unexpected: “We see it everywhere so it would be a surprise if you did not find it in England also.”
Guardian Service
