June 18 – The Birmingham Crown Court match fixing trial has convicted one player from England’s Conference South and two Singaporeans of involvement in a conspiracy targeting lower league clubs. A further player was cleared while verdict is still awaited on another.
Michael Boateng who played for Whitehawk FC was found guilt by an 11-1 majority of conspiracy to commit bribery, while Singaporean businessmen Chann Sankaran and Krishna Ganeshan were unanimously convicted of the same offense.
Hakeem Adelakun, who also played for Whitehawk, was cleared of involvement in the conspiracy. A verdict is still awaited on a third player, Moses Swaibu who was granted unconditional bail pending a retrial in September..
Sankaran and Ganeshan were described as central figures in an attempt to influence games in England’s League 2 and Conference South. They have links to the infamous international match fixer Wilson Raj Perumal and their intention was to establish a network of corrupt players across England.
The corruption ring was exposed by an investigative team form the Daily Telegraph newspaper who shared information with the National Crime Agency enabling a major investigation to be initiated.
Sankaran claimed to be able to fix matches in the English lower leagues for £70,000. Detectives followed him and Ganeshan as they travelled to meet Boateng and other players to discuss plans to fix two matches.
The three who were convicted will be sentenced on Friday.
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