SCANDAL OF MATCH-FIXING REVEALED: The FA's secret list of suspects... and how they are still playing in England
- More than a dozen alleged fixers could be playing in England, according to law enforcement and football integrity sources
- Former Premier League players involved - but they cannot be banned
- FA handed 60-page dossier of suspicious games and bets
A
group of footballers suspected of being involved in match-fixing are
playing at English clubs with the knowledge of the Football Association,
The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Following
a lengthy investigation by this newspaper into alleged fixing in the
Conference South in the 2012-13 season, and into subsequent match-fixing
in Australia, top officials from the FA have admitted for the first
time they have a ‘watch list’ of active players ‘of interest’ who, for
various reasons, they cannot prevent playing.
More
than a dozen alleged fixers could be playing in England, according to
law enforcement and football integrity sources. The FA will not put a
figure on the number.
Culprit: Singaporean match-fixer, Wilson Raj Perumal, responsible for hundreds of fixed matches
The
players involved are at clubs in the lower reaches of the Football
League and in non-League football, yet their CVs show that their former
employers range from leading London Premier League clubs to smaller
sides across the south.
None
of the those on the watch list can be named for legal reasons; not one
has been charged or convicted with any fixing offence, hence the FA’s
inability to stop them playing.
In
some cases, players were involved in games in England where betting and
other evidence indicated fixing. A criminal investigation remains
possible.
Others have been sought by police elsewhere on fixing-related matters but left for England before they could be questioned.
Watched: Krishna Ganeshan (left) and Chann Sankaran (right), pictured whilst under surveillance
Asked to confirm the existence of the watch list, the FA’s head of football integrity, David Newton, told The Mail on Sunday in an exclusive interview: ‘It’s safe to say we have procedures in place to manage those sorts of issues.
Ringleader: Gerry Subramaniam, involved in the global match-fixing scam involving players at the Southern Stars Football Club
'We
also have the ability within our rules, but only under certain
circumstances, to interim suspend players where we believe a sufficient
case can be made that they have been in breach of the integrity rules.’
Indeed,
it is understood several players have been suspended but the FA will
not confirm how many. Watch list players who are not suspended have
effectively been put on notice that their activities are being
monitored.
Newton
said: ‘In the event that we believe somebody is connected in some way
[to fixing] we may remind them of their responsibilities.
‘We
can seek various written confirmations from them that they have nothing
they wish to share with us in terms of breaches of our rules or those
of any other body or international association, and they will inform us
the minute they do become aware of anything.’
Fears
of systematic fixing in England were raised in March last year when the
FA announced they had warned Conference South clubs about their
‘responsibilities’, after abnormal betting patterns.
The
FA received a document of about 60 pages, detailing ‘suspicious’
matches, specific irregular wagers linked to incidents — and the names
of players under suspicion. Betting companies as well as specialist
monitoring agents are among those giving the FA such information.
Bookmakers
stopped taking bets on matches featuring Billericay Town, AFC
Hornchurch and Chelmsford, and other clubs were under scrutiny. The FA
liaised with the Gambling Commission, and tried but failed to get a
police force involved in the case.
Low-level suspected fixing was not a police priority at that time.
Scandal: Southern Star soccer players Reiss Noel (centre) and Joe Woolley (right) leave court in Melbourne
The
FA stopped short of starting any investigation of their own. No player
or official at any club was questioned. This led to the FA being
lambasted by, among others, their own former compliance chief Graham
Bean, their former chairman, Lord Triesman, and the chairmen of several
clubs linked to ‘dodgy’ matches.
Bean
said the FA had been guilty of a ‘dereliction of duty’ in not
investigating. Triesman said he was ‘astonished’ nobody had been
questioned, insisting it was the FA’s ‘duty’ to do so.
What
happened next raised real concerns that not only had there been
malpractice in the Conference, but probably systematic fixing by a major
Asian crime syndicate.
Up
to a dozen players who played in that tainted 2012-13 Conference South
season, all associated to a UK-based organiser for Asian fixers —
Krishna Sanjey Ganeshan — were recruited by him to play at regional
level in Australia. Four players, all English, have since been convicted
of match-fixing while at a Melbourne club, Southern Stars, and have
been banned from football for life.
Jailed: Krishna Ganeshan after being found guilty of conspiring to fix English football matches
Ganeshan
was jailed in June for five years at Birmingham Crown Court for
conspiracy to fix English matches played in November 2013 — matches
entirely unrelated to either the season before or Australia.
‘It
seems pretty clear now that there was match manipulation in England in
the 2012-13 season, and it went uninvestigated, and some of those
involved went on to be involved in Australia, including Ganeshan,’ said
one veteran police source.
‘People got away with stuff in England. Some also got away with it in Australia. I’m sure the FA have an idea who they are.’
Football’s
integrity ‘landscape’ has changed dramatically in England even since
March 2013. The National Crime Agency (NCA), a new law enforcement
agency with the appetite and power to go after fixers, has come into
existence. It became fully operational in October 2013.
It
was an NCA investigation, prompted by investigative newspaper work,
that led to the imprisonment of Ganeshan and two associates. The NCA
continue to probe other alleged fixing, and receive support from the FA.
Nobody
at the FA will publicly blame police inertia before the NCA was
established for the lack of investigation into the suspected 2012-13
fixing.
But
Darren Bailey, the FA’s director of governance and regulation, said:
‘These matters are now treated with the utmost seriousness by all the
relevant agencies. We’re a lot happier in relation to the manner in
which these matters are dealt with now.’
The
significant words are ‘now’ and ‘all the relevant agencies’. In
relation to the 2012-13 season, Bailey said the FA followed every
procedure they were supposed to, and could not simply start banging on
doors to find answers in case they compromised a subsequent formal
criminal investigation by police.
Guilty: Woolley (left) was fined £675 and Noel (right) was fined £1,126 after they pleaded guilty to fixing
‘It’s not like in the old days when you can go in like the Sweeney and just interview some person,’ he said.
As
well as being an FA director, Bailey is also a key figure in a
‘tripartite organisation’ — comprised of sports bodies, the betting
industry and the police — that meets regularly to share information and
discuss strategy.
Like the NCA, it is relatively new, and aims to tackle corruption.
‘We
cannot do it as a sport on our own,’ said Bailey. ‘We have limited
power, (only) over our participants. We don’t necessarily have all of
the investigative powers that other bodies have. So we do need their
assistance.’
On
the issue of whether the law may catch up with past fixers who are
still at liberty, perhaps even playing while on the watch list, FA
integrity chief Newton added: ‘We’re not saying there is a big line
under any case.’
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