Kelong Kings: Confessions of the world's most prolific match-fixer Read online

  I happened to be sitting in the office of the Bahrain FA General Secretary once as he was busy assessing the performance of a Singaporean referee. The match had taken place on the previous day and the General Secretary, who was the designated match commissioner for the fixture, was scrutinizing the recording of the game like a vulture. Every five minutes he would evaluate the ref's performance, then, after the end of the match, he filed his report. Fortunately for me, it is very rare for two FAs to engage the services of a match commissioner for an international friendly.

  Bookmakers are usually keen to offer bets for international friendlies; betting companies are profit-oriented businesses and will bring up as many games as they possibly can on their websites to attract punters. All matches played in Europe and North America are customarily available for gambling, as are a good portion of those played in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Since all league activity is suspended during international FIFA calendar days, the only revenue for gambling companies on those dates is represented by international fixtures. Gambling companies want the turnover and the revenue. If they decide to offer betting on a particular fixture, they don't care to know who plays who; if monkey plays monkey, they will open up the odds on which monkey is going to win. But organizing an international friendly game or tournament and picking the right monkeys to play in it is no simple matter; there are plenty of hurdles to clear.

  This is how I usually go about arranging an international friendly match: first, I contact the person in charge of a host country's national team or their FA's General Secretary.

  "Do you need a sparring partner?" I ask. "I can take care of that. I will pay the bills, fly the team over for you and take care of their accommodation".

  In normal circumstances, when an FA invites another country's national team for an international friendly, they will have to bear the airfare, accommodation and appearance fee for that team; an amount that can vary depending on the teams involved. If they bring Brazil and Germany to Dubai for an international friendly, the host FA must be prepared to dish out at least two million dollars in appearance fees alone. That is why FAs are usually so pleased with my offer and don't bother to ask how I will profit from the venture. If they do, I have a rock-solid cover story prepared ahead of time to offer them.

  Once you've landed a deal with the FA, you need to buy 30 airline tickets for the visiting team and the rest of the delegates. If you're working with Africans your hardships will increase exponentially. Africans work like snails; they have a tendency to take their own sweet time to provide a team list, then they'll call you and they'll want to change three or four of the names on it. Usually this happens after you think that you have everything settled. The average cost for flying a national team from Africa to Asia is roughly 50 to 70 thousand US dollars. Accommodation usually costs anywhere from 10 to 15 thousand but host FAs are often willing to provide full board and housing for the visiting team.

  In addition to the logistical expenses there is the appearance fee which, in my case, is in the form of corruption money; it costs anywhere from 50 to 80 thousand US dollars per match to get a team to dance to my tune. In some cases, they'll ask me to provide ridiculous additional fees, even for the younger age-group matches. This money will go to the players and officials who need to buy telephone cards and run other improbable miscellaneous errands. There will be no end to the people that you need to appease. I've witnessed teams refuse to step on the pitch before being paid their fee. The money that I offer to the visiting side represents a handsome profit in a country like Zimbabwe, for example, which has no real currency of its own. Robert Mugabe has completely destroyed the nation, snatching land from investors and chasing white residents out. Any amount of US dollars will turn heads and buy questionless collaboration in a country like that.

  After you get the show on stage, on the day of the match, you'll be praying that the books will open for your game because, if they don't, you'll lose your capital. The whole process is a massive headache but, in the end, if the business goes as planned, it is well worth the effort. All in all, organizing a friendly international match costs roughly one to two hundred thousand US dollars and can raise revenue for up to 400 thousand US dollars. If you do your math, you'll see that you can walk away with about 200 thousand US dollars in profits from a single international friendly match. If you use a betting house or a senior master agent to expand the volumes of your wagers, the profits increase exponentially.

  In March 2009, following my meeting with the Bahrain FA, I organized an international friendly match between them and Zimbabwe in Bahrain. I went through all the paperwork to ensure that the Zimbabweans arrive on time. The problem was that I didn't have enough money to fly the team over. Despite our differences, I called Dan up to see if he was willing to do business with me.

  "Dan", I said, "I have the Zimbabwean team going to play in Bahrain but I don't have the money for their airfare, can you arrange?"

  "No, I can't", he cut me short, "I don't have any money either".

  Dan still held a grudge against me for the Syrian incident.

  "OK".

  Next I called Sivarajan and asked him to help me find a financier. He introduced me to a Chinese-Singaporean who ran a number of fried noodle shops all over Singapore; the man went by a noodle's name, Cha Bee Hoon, Hokkien for 'fried rice noodles'. Sivarajan told me that Bee Hoon had money and that he would be interested in paying for the tickets in exchange for information on the fix. I met Bee Hoon and spoke to him about the business in hand. He said that he didn't personally have the money to invest in the venture but that he would help me obtain it from somebody else. Bee Hoon then proceeded to take me on a business tour to meet people that might be interested in financing the match. In the meantime, Dan was monitoring all of my moves and calling me at the end of each day.

  "You asked this guy, right?" he would say. "And then you asked that guy, correct?"

  I don't know how, but he was being informed about the places that I went and about the people that I met. As time ran out I got so desperate that I even called Yap and Thana to see if they were interested in doing business with me. They answered that they were going to be in Johor to fix a match on a certain day and that they could meet me there to discuss my proposal. We met in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, over dinner and I made it very simple for them since they were already familiar with the Zimbabwean team.

  "Everything is set", I said. "I just need money to fly the team over".

  Yap and Thana told me that they would check in their circle and get back to me asap. I waited and waited but to no avail; there was no reply. Finally Dan's partner, Admir, who was in Singapore at the time, called me up.

  "OK, Wilson", said Admir, "I will give you the money to fly Zimbabwe over. I'll cover the cost for their tickets and for the hotel. You just go and get things done".

  "There is a possibility", I warned, "that there will be no betting on this match. I cannot be 100 percent sure".

  "Well", he replied, "that means we'll just have to try our luck".

  "We can refuse to pay the hotel bill to reduce our loss if there is no betting", I suggested.

  "No", Admir was a real gentleman, "we will pay for everything even if there is no betting. We don't want to get you in trouble".

  Admir gave me the money that I needed and I booked the tickets for the Zimbabwean team. As soon as the tickets were issued, I received a call from Rosemary of the Zimbabwe FA; she sounded hysterical.

  "Wilson", she said, "David called Jumbojumbo who is now refusing to allow the team to travel. We need another set of players".

  David was Yap's nickname. Mother-fucker.

  "How the fuck am I supposed to re-issue the tickets for another 20 players?" I asked Rosemary.

  Even though Rosemary was high-ranked within the FA, she had no power over the national team when they competed outside of FIFA-calendar days, as in this case. In order to get the national team players to travel, she needed the consent of Jumbojumbo. He could
prevent the national team from convening the players from their respective club sides by claiming that they were involved in other fixtures. After Zimbabwe's trip to Malaysia, Jumbojumbo had started ignoring me; he had figured out that the money was coming from Yap and had pledged his loyalty to him. Rosemary, on the other hand, knew that I was the brains behind the organization and was on my side. I guess that Jumbojumbo was not ready to let other people eat from his plate. This was another peculiar trait of African mentality that I had noticed over the years: you either give me a cut or no one else makes money; Jumbojumbo was no different.

  I was distraught. After struggling so hard to find the money to arrange the match, Yap had ruined my business with a single telephone call. I never should have informed the heartless fucker about the game in the first place. I was burning with anger; I could have killed Yap if I had the chance. I picked up the telephone and tried to call Thana but his mobile was switched off, so I called his wife.

  "Get Thana to call me right now", I said to her.

  Thana rang me up on my mobile.

  "You mother-fuckers", I yelled. "You think that you can fuck with me like this? I will personally come to Alor Setar and burn Yap's salon down to a cinder".

  "Brother, cool down", said Thana. "I have nothing to do with this. I didn't know that Yap had called Zimbabwe".

  I tried to calm my mind and focus on what to do next to rectify the situation. When I come to a dead end I don't just sit there; I crack my head open until I find a solution. I picked up my phone and dialed Rosemary's number.

  "Listen", I said, "you call Jumbojumbo now and tell him that I offer him ten thousand US dollars to release the players that we have selected for the match".

  I don't need to tell you that Jumbojumbo was more than happy to make a buck and that the team was soon on its way to Bahrain.

  Alassane and I traveled to Bahrain, where we hooked up with Dino, who was there to oversee my work on Admir's behalf. By then, I had been hunting for money left, right and center and half the punters in Singapore knew that I was going to fix the match. All of this was happening during the "Bulan Puasa" month, the Malay version of the Muslim Ramadan. The game was set to start at twelve o'clock midnight Singapore time. Punters back home, including Thana and Yap, were sitting in front of their computer screens waiting to bet on a match they knew Zimbabwe would lose.

  "Wilson has Zimbabwe", they all rubbed their hands in expectation.

  Fortunately for me, the Bahrain FA decided to delay kick off for an hour. The match-clock on betting websites began ticking at midnight; 1 minute, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, but the updates were not appearing; nothing was moving. By the 45th minute, punters had given up hope that the match would ever appear on their screens for betting.

  "Fuck. There's no live betting", they must have thought before hitting the sack, "too bad".

  Then, at around one o'clock in the morning Singapore time, the match actually kicked off. I was sitting on Zimbabwe's bench next-to the coach and the Bahrain FA didn't bother to ask why I was there. Dino was watching from the stands and Admir was in a Singapore hotel room waiting in front of the website for the game to pop up. Three minutes after kick off, he called me.

  "OK", Admir sounded excited, "the market has opened".

  "Good".

  I relayed the news to the expectant Zimbabwe bench.

  "We're in business".

  We were all very psyched about this match. Rosemary was there with us; the coach was there and the whole team knew what they had to do: we were cruising. I was thrilled because I was broke and finally had the chance to make some money. Admir called again.

  "Can you pass out instructions now?" he asked.

  "Admir", I said, "the match is in progress and I worry that what I say will not be relayed properly to the boys on the field. You do all the betting that you need to do, just don't place any first-half bets, OK? Go ahead and do all of your betting then call me back at half-time and tell me what you need. I will give you the result that you want".

  "Fuck you then", said Admir, "we'll do what you think is best".

  Dino was watching the match from the stands and was pleased to see me on the bench among the Zimbabweans. How often do you get to see your man dictating the results from the bench?

  The first half of the game ended with Bahrain ahead by two goals. Admir called me once again.

  "I need four more goals", he said.

  "No problem", I readily replied.

  During the half-time break I walked into Zimbabwe's changing room and gathered the players in front of me.

  "We need four more goals", I relayed to them.

  The second half kicked off and Bahrain went 3-0, 4-0, 5-0.

  I called Admir.

  "Do you really need the fourth goal?"

  "No", he answered, "it's enough. We closed shop".

  "Good".

  The game ended 5-2. Zimbabwe scored two late goals once they were allowed to play freely and that was it. Luckily there was live betting on the match and we made loads of money. After the game, we took the time to get closer to the Zimbabweans. Alassane was mingling with them and made friends with a FIFA match agent named Shaka, who was traveling with the delegation. In the end, punters like Yap who refused to contribute and were keen to gather free information on the match didn't get to bet a single dollar. Sometimes I truly believe that God is great.

  The following morning we all met for breakfast in our hotel dining hall. Dino, Rosemary and I were seated together and she was discussing with Dino the possibility of pushing the 2010 World Cup tickets to him. Dino was persuaded that he could distribute the tickets for a good price. As I got up from my seat to get some food from the buffet table I saw Dino writing his e-mail address down on a piece of paper and passing the slip to Rosemary. I went back to my seat and, after Dino had left, took the note from Rosemary and threw it in the garbage can.

  "This is something that I really dislike", I scolded her. "Never undercut one-another. How would you like it if I did it to you? I'm sure you wouldn't appreciate it and that's exactly how I feel right now".

  I was not upset with her, I never doubted her loyalty, but the rules of the game must be clear to all.

  On the following day the winnings were delivered in the Dubai airport. When you do business with Admir, the cash is always there on time. I met Rosemary in the departures terminal and gave her the money that I had promised for the job. After completing the handover, I called Admir and put Rosemary on the telephone so that she could confirm that the amount had been received in full.

  "Did Wilson give you the money?" Admir asked. "100 thousand?"

  "Yes, 100 thousand", Rosemary acknowledged.

  "OK, good".

  That was it. The job was completed and I received my cut: 50 thousand Singapore dollars; the most I ever received from Dan's group, solely because Admir was running the show this time around. Had it been Dan, he would have paid me a petty sum as usual. Since Dan's associates had settled his debts with Ah Kang, Dan had been temporarily stripped of his power and Admir was in charge.

  My success in the Bahrain vs Zimbabwe international friendly match didn't pass unnoticed. I had knocked at the doors of so many possible financiers looking for funds that the word had spread like wildfire. A few days later, Bee Hoon received a call from a Chinese investor; my popularity had raised eyebrows all the way to mainland China.

  "This guy Wilson", the man said to Bee Hoon, "who could obtain this 5-2 score in an international friendly. I would like to see him".

  Bee Hoon came looking for me and briefed me on the call.

  "He only speaks Mandarin and a bit of Hokkien", he explained.

  "Why not", I said, "if he speaks Hokkien, I can talk to him on my own".

  The mysterious investor was none other than Ah Kang, Dan's betting house, who immediately inquired as to what my next assignment would be.

  "What is your next project?" he asked. "Do you have any other matches down the line?"


  "Yes, I do", I replied. "I can work on Trinidad and Tobago playing against the United States in the USA on April 1st, it's a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier".

  "Sounds good", said Ah Kang, "let's work together on this game. How much do you need?"

  "I need about 180 thousand US dollars. Thirty thousand will go to my travel expenses, the rest will go to my three boys on the Trinidad team. We will pay them 40 thousand dollars each, but in the event that we need a penalty, we will have to hand out an extra".

  "Agreed", answered Ah Kang, "but I need a 3-0 result or more".

  "No problem".

  "Why don't you send somebody over here to China to see how we work", Ah Kang proposed.

  I agreed and decided to put a friend of mine called Rajendra Prasad on a business class flight to Xiemen, Southeast China, where Ah Kang ran his business. I had known Rajendra Prasad for quite a while. Before my arrest in 2002, I often patronized a nightclub on Singapore's Boat Quay called Kilimanjaro where they played good hip hop music. Rajendra Prasad managed the nightclub and we had become superficially acquainted. Then, when I came out of prison in 2006, my friend Sivarajan brought the two of us together again and we became closer. Rajendra Prasad spoke very good Chinese, both Mandarin and Hokkien. Since I was banned from entering China, I decided to send him over to Xiemen to meet Ah Kang.

  "Go down there for a couple of days", I explained, "and see how their system works".