April 24 – Wilson Raj Perumal, renowned as one of the world’s most notorious and elusive matchfixers, has been arrested yet again in Finland on an international arrest warrant, two years after the Singaporean was jailed there for fixing domestic league games.
Perumal was apparently detained last week following an extradition request from Singapore though it is not known exactly when he arrived in Finland or whether he was suspected of any further illegal activity.
The domestic league season began on April 6 and although there have been no signs of illegal betting, Finnish Football Association spokesman Sami Terava told The Associated Press: “The positive thing is that police have caught him for whatever reason. We were tipped off that he’s been in Finland during recent days.”
Perumal was arrested in 2011 while using a false passport in the small town of Rovaniemi, where he was charged with bribery and match-fixing. He was found guilty a year later and handed a two-year jail sentence – though as a first-time offender he only served part of it.
Perumal has been linked by FIFA and betting fraud detection agencies to a wave of match-fixing operations in virtually every continent, most recently in Australia. He once lived undetected near Wembley stadium in London but most recently was reported to have been operating in Hungary, supposedly aiding police as an informant, albeit under house arrest.
A report in the Helsinki Times said Perumal was being kept in Vantaa Prison “until further notice to facilitate the proceedings”.
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