Singapore has extended the detention orders for four people accused of involvement in a global football match-fixing syndicate based in the city-state, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said Wednesday.
The extension allows the government to hold the four, including Singaporean businessman Dan Tan who is believed to be the syndicate's mastermind, indefinitely without charges.
In a statement to AFP, the MHA confirmed "that the detention orders issued to the four Singaporeans on 2 October 2013, for their involvement in global football match-fixing activities, have been extended".
Tan, also known as Tan Seet Eng, last month filed a legal challenge against his detention. He and the three others are being held under a special law that allows for indefinite detention without trial.
They were detained as part of a roundup of 14 people in a major crackdown on corruption in global football.
Singapore authorities invoked the special law due to the difficulty of finding evidence against the suspects.
Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean had previously said that the special law is used "as a last resort in cases where accomplices and witnesses dare not testify against criminals in court, for fear of reprisal".
Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs Masagos Zulkifli, who is attending a conference on eradicating corruption in sports in London, assured fellow participants of Singapore's resolve to fight the problem."We will maintain our zero tolerance approach towards corruption and in this context for match-fixing," he said in a transcript of his remarks issued by the MHA on Wednesday."Offenders have and will continue to be dealt with firmly and resolutely under our laws."
He said that the detention of the four suspects under the special law "had effectively dismantled the syndicate".
After the arrests in Singapore last year, Interpol chief Ronald Noble desbribed the gang as the world's "largest and most aggressive match-fixing syndicate, with tentacles reaching every continent".
Tan is wanted in Italy and Hungary for fixing dozens of games in the two countries and elsewhere in Europe.
He first came to prominence when another Singaporean fixer Wilson Raj Perumal, was arrested and jailed in Finland in 2011 for fixing top-tier games there.
Perumal, who has served his prison sentence and is now assisting match-fixing investigators in Hungary, had told prosecutors he was a double-crossed associate of Tan.
In a book about Singapore's deep links with global match-fixing released this year, local investigative journalist Zaihan Mohamed Yusof said authorities swooped on Tan's gang after uncovering their plans to rig the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Experts have said that easy international transport, a passport accepted around the world and fluency in English and Mandarin have helped Singaporean fixers spread their influence abroad with the support of external investors, most believed to be from China.
Photo: Wilson Raj Perumal, who's served his prison sentence and is now assisting with police investigations, claims he's a double-crossed associate of Dan Tan, one of the four now being detained without trial in Singapore; AFP / Kaisa Siren
Story: AFP
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Singapore has extended the detention orders for four people accused of involvement in a global football match-fixing syndicate based in the city-state, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said Wednesday.
The extension allows the government to hold the four, including Singaporean businessman Dan Tan who is believed to be the syndicate's mastermind, indefinitely without charges.
In a statement to AFP, the MHA confirmed "that the detention orders issued to the four Singaporeans on 2 October 2013, for their involvement in global football match-fixing activities, have been extended".
Tan, also known as Tan Seet Eng, last month filed a legal challenge against his detention. He and the three others are being held under a special law that allows for indefinite detention without trial.
They were detained as part of a roundup of 14 people in a major crackdown on corruption in global football.
Singapore authorities invoked the special law due to the difficulty of finding evidence against the suspects.
Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean had previously said that the special law is used "as a last resort in cases where accomplices and witnesses dare not testify against criminals in court, for fear of reprisal".
Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs Masagos Zulkifli, who is attending a conference on eradicating corruption in sports in London, assured fellow participants of Singapore's resolve to fight the problem."We will maintain our zero tolerance approach towards corruption and in this context for match-fixing," he said in a transcript of his remarks issued by the MHA on Wednesday."Offenders have and will continue to be dealt with firmly and resolutely under our laws."
He said that the detention of the four suspects under the special law "had effectively dismantled the syndicate".
After the arrests in Singapore last year, Interpol chief Ronald Noble desbribed the gang as the world's "largest and most aggressive match-fixing syndicate, with tentacles reaching every continent".
Tan is wanted in Italy and Hungary for fixing dozens of games in the two countries and elsewhere in Europe.
He first came to prominence when another Singaporean fixer Wilson Raj Perumal, was arrested and jailed in Finland in 2011 for fixing top-tier games there.
Perumal, who has served his prison sentence and is now assisting match-fixing investigators in Hungary, had told prosecutors he was a double-crossed associate of Tan.
In a book about Singapore's deep links with global match-fixing released this year, local investigative journalist Zaihan Mohamed Yusof said authorities swooped on Tan's gang after uncovering their plans to rig the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Experts have said that easy international transport, a passport accepted around the world and fluency in English and Mandarin have helped Singaporean fixers spread their influence abroad with the support of external investors, most believed to be from China.
Photo: Wilson Raj Perumal, who's served his prison sentence and is now assisting with police investigations, claims he's a double-crossed associate of Dan Tan, one of the four now being detained without trial in Singapore; AFP / Kaisa Siren
Story: AFP
Read Also:
Singaporeans guilty of UK match-fixing plot
Alleged Singapore match-fixing kingpin Tan Seet Eng challenges detention