By Andrew Warshaw
September 19 – Dan Tan, the elusive and notorious match-fixer who is on almost every football crime-busting wanted list, is understood to be among at least 12 people arrested following a breakthrough operation by Singapore authorities.
Police would not identify him but local reports said he was among five being held for further questioning.
Singapore has long been highlighted as one of the nerve centres for Asian match fixers who manipulate hundreds of games every year.
Earlier this year the European police agency Europol revealed startling occurrences of match-fixing with 680 games globally deemed suspicious, 380 of which were in Europe. They included World Cup qualifiers and the Champions League.
“Police confirm that the suspected leader and several other individuals who are the subject of ongoing investigations in other jurisdictions for match fixing were among the persons arrested,” said a joint statement by Singapore police agencies without specifically naming Dan Tan. Tan. who is reported to have a personal net worth of $58 million, has rarely been seen in public but has been implicated by Interpol in fixing hundreds of sports events.
Following the latest arrests, Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said: “Singaporean authorities have taken an important step in cracking down on an international match-fixing syndicate by arresting the main suspects in the case, including the suspected mastermind.”
Dan Tan, whose real name is believed to be Tan Seet Eng, was indicted in May in his absence by Hungarian prosecutors for his alleged role in 32 rigged local and international matches. In Italy, it is claimed that from Singapore he ran a network of fixers who paid players in the lower divisions of Italian football to help rig dozens of games.
In April, three Lebanese officials were suddenly dropped from an Asian Football Confederation Cup match in Singapore, hours before kickoff. Referee Ali Sabbagh was jailed for six months for accepting sexual favours to fix the game between Singapore’s Tampines Rovers and India’s East Bengal.
Despite frequent calls for Dan Tan’s arrest from both Italy and Interpol, the Singaporean authorities have to date refused to act, with no extradition treaty in place.
The latest revelations came hot on the heels of a high-speed operation in Australia where 10 people were arrested over alleged matchfixing. Melbourne police believe the operation was set up by another Singaporean, the equally shady Wilson Raj Perumal, a long-time associate of Dan Tan – even though Perumal was in Hungary at the time supposedly aiding police with investigations into match-fixing there.
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