Free Kelong Kings: Confessions of the world's most prolific match-fixer by Wilson Raj Perumal, Alessandro Righi, Emanuele Piano Page A

Sofia, Bulgaria, but the
dumb fucker didn't remember that every flight from Indonesia to
Europe made a stop-over in Singapore. Michal's flight landed back in
the Lion City and the passengers were transferred to another
airplane. According to Michal's account of the events, an airport
steward took notice of him as he walked through the transit terminal.
At that time, Michal was a hot star in Singapore since he had gone
missing and had skipped his court date.
    "I thank that
steward", said Michal years later. "Despite taking notice
of me, he did not report my presence on the flight".
    Once in Europe,
Michal was able to prove his citizenship and be sent home to
Prague while Abbas Saad, the player that Michal had paid on behalf of
Pal, was convicted by a Singapore court and handed a global playing
ban from FIFA.
    The grand sweep by
the CPIB and Malaysian authorities also caused more lasting damages.
The football associations of Malaysia and Singapore began pointing
accusing fingers at one-another.
    "You have not
done enough against corruption", they blamed each other.
    To make matters
worse, there were financial disputes between the two associations on
the way that the cup's proceeds were being divided. Eventually,
Singapore pulled out of the Malaysia Cup in 1994 because of
corruption and because of me and because of you.
    "Thank you very
much", they said. "We will not participate anymore".

CHAPTER
III
Going
bust

    In late 1994 I was
trying to fix the finals of the Prime Minister's Cup, an amateur
competition also known as the Constituency Cup, between Nee Soon CSC
and Kaki Bukit SC, two local Singapore clubs. Through a friend called
Ah Wang, I obtained the pager number of one of the Kaki Bukit
players, a Malaysian guy whose name I forget , and paged him from my family's home in Woodlands. When
the player called me at my home number I introduced myself as Ah
Wang's friend and made my approach.
    "Would you be
interested in losing the final against Nee Soon?" I asked.
    "How much are
you willing to pay me?" he inquired.
    "I'll pay you
from three to five thousand Singapore dollars", I said.
    "OK", he
replied, "let me think about it and I'll get back to you".
    That
evening, I went to the Genting Highlands Casino in Malaysia and lost all of my money. When I returned
to Singapore, I found myself without any funds to fix the match, so I
just forgot about it and didn't even bother calling the player back.
The match was played and Kaki Bukit actually lost one-nil to Nee
Soon. On the following day, the player's statements were all over the
papers.
    "A bookie
approached me to lose the match", he claimed.
    "Fuck", I
thought, "this could be big trouble".
    Singapore's CPIB
traced the player's call to my home, where only three possible
culprits lived :
my father, my brother and I. My brother was at the army camp for his
national service at the time so it couldn't be him; it was either my
father or myself. I was often staying at a friend's house and would
occasionally drop by my parent's home so, when the CPIB came to my
house and picked my father up, I was not around. Soon the news of my
father's arrest reached me and I didn't know what to do. I called a
friend to seek his advice.
    "Shall I turn
myself in or wait for my father's release?" I asked.
    The police
department in Singapore can hold on to you for a maximum of 48 hours
for non-capital offenses then, when the two days expire, they have to
either charge you in court and extend your custody or set bail for
your release. Finally, I decided to surrender and went to the police
station where I was arrested and interrogated. At first, I pretended
like I didn't know anything about the matter; the policemen had no
idea that I was a punter and that I was involved in football
gambling. Then they started to play around with my feelings.
    "If you don't
admit, we're going to charge your father", an officer
threatened. "Why don't you confess? You will get a stern warning
and that will be the end of