By Andrew Warshaw
July 18 – The Lebanese referee jailed for six months after pleading guilty to accepting sexual favours in exchange for match-fixing has been back in court to give evidence in the trial of a Singaporean businessman accused of being behind the affair.
Eric Ding Si Yang, described in Singaporean media as a nightclub owner, has been charged with providing prostitutes for referee Ali Sabbagh (pictured) and two other Lebanese officials in return for rigging games.
Sabbagh and two other Lebanese officials had been scheduled to officiate an Asian Football Federation match on April 3 between Singapore’s Tampines Rovers and India’s East Bengal but were replaced just hours before kickoff. Assistant referees Ali Eid and Abdallah Taleb were also jailed but have since been released and deported.
Ding is accused of providing all three with women and has been charged with “corruptly giving gratification to three football officials as an inducement to fix football matches that they would officiate in the future”.
He faces a maximum prison term of five years and a fine of up to $80,000 for each count of corruption but denies the charges.
Sabbagh told the court he first met Ding, who was calling himself James Zen, in Beirut in June 2012. He said Ding promised rich pay days and that he was sent 35 links to YouTube videos with instructions to study them and then delete the emails. “He wanted me to understand and learn how to make such decisions for matches in future,” Sabbagh said.
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