Singaporean charged for match-fixing in AFC Cup

Posted on April 9, 2013 by SoccerPunter

Eric Ding Si Yang, 31, a businessman in Singapore has been charged for match-fixing in AFC Cup match between Tampines Rovers and East Bengal.

He is accused of offering the sexual services of three women to the three Lebanese referees in return for fixed match.

Eric Ding and the three Lebanese are currently held in Singapore Changi Prison pending their bail hearing.

“We are going to trial, your honour,” Ding’s lawyer Thong Chee Kun told district judge Kamala Ponnampalam on Tuesday when asked for his client’s plea.

State prosecutors opposed bail but the judge scheduled a bail hearing later Tuesday for Ding, who was handcuffed and dressed in white prison attire when he was brought to the trial court.

Investigators said referee Ali Sabbagh and his fellow Lebanese assistants Ali Eid and Abdallah Taleb accepted the favour but were abruptly pulled out before the match started. They are each facing one count of corruption.

If convicted, they face a maximum prison term of five years or a fine of up to S$100,000, or both penalties, for each count.

A local newspapers said Ding was a football tipster from 2006 to 2012.

He spends most of his time in Bangkok but has stakes in a restaurant and nightclub in Singapore and is known to have a passion for fast luxury cars, it added.