The alleged mastermind of football match-fixing scandals in Asia (now referred to as Asiagate) and link man in the Zimbabwe scam, Wilson Raj Perumal, has been sentenced to two years in jail.
Perumal was yesterday locked up in Helsinki, Finland, for match- fixing while nine players got suspended sentences after also being found guilty.
The Lapland district court found that Perumal had contacted players and referees to fix matches. “Perumal’s sentence was toughened by the fact that he had planned his actions and that he has acted as a member of an internationally organised group doing betting scams,” the court said in a statement yesterday.
He paid players up to 20 000 euros ($28 290) per match and received up to 50 000 euros, in addition to some of the betting profits, each time the results were fixed.
The court said Perumal had cooperated with authorities.
Perumal is fingered as the man who organised most of the matches that Zimbabwe took part in, in Asia from 2007, including the Monomotapa trip to Malaysia where they masqueraded as the national team.
With him now in prison, Perumal will be easily accessible to Fifa and Interpol, who are conducting a worldwide investigation.
Quizzed on the December 2009 trip to Malaysia by a Zifa investigating committee, Warriors captain Method Mwanjali pointed out that former Zifa programmes officer Jonathan Musavengana worked together with Perumal and his associates who organised the payments.
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“All I can remember is that there was no one official from the FA, but Musa (Musavengana) held a meeting with us all players at the hotel soon after arrival. He told us that we were going to be introduced and meet guys from Singapore who were going to offer us money for losing matches according to their instructions,” Mwanjali claimed.
“It was my first time to hear such a thing and also it was my first time to be in Malaysia. I therefore asked him as the team captain why we had to do such an abominable thing to our nation.”
Musavengana said it was money-making time, according to Mwanjali.
“He said Zifa had no money to give us and therefore we had to raise our allowances and upkeep this way.
Also this is how things were done whenever a team came to Malaysia for these games. It was money-making time. He told us to lose by a certain number of goals against Thailand so as to get our money or allowances,” Mwanjali further claimed. They were promised by Perumal they would be $3 000 richer per player if they conceded the first goal against Thailand in the 20th minute.
Zimbabwe lost 3-0 and got nothing as the scoreline was “wrong”.
“Raj (Perumal) had come to the dressing room before kickoff and told us to lose to Thailand 1-0. We were supposed to concede a goal in the 20th minute. Raja had promised us for that 1-0 after 20 minutes, the fee for each player would be $3 000,” Mwanjali continued.
“We were scored (sic) in the 44th minute but not by design. For that Raj was visibly angry and came to the dressing room at half-time and blew his top telling us that we were supposed to concede a goal at the given time but we were not following instructions. I think Raj announced that if the game ended like that (1-0), then he would pay us $500.
“We conceded the third goal in the second half and after the match Raj did not appear.”
In the second match they played their normal game and won 3-0 and got $500 each. In the third against Syria, they lost 6-0 as per instruction and were paid $1 000 each at Kuala Lumpur Airport on their way back home.
“In open play we could have walloped Syria, but we could not, so much that even our opponents ended up commenting that we were playing to lose,” Mwanjali said.
“After the game, the syndicate representatives were visibly happy and we were paid $1 000 each at Kuala Lumpur Airport and the guy who paid us was Raj’s friend who flew in from Singapore.”
