Match-fixing kingpin arrested in Singapore
Singaporean authorities have arrested 14 people suspected of being part of a criminal syndicate involved in global match-fixing. One of the arrested persons is said to be Dan Tan, allegedly the mastermind behind hundreds of fixed matches on local and international level.
According to Interpol, the arrests come as a result of a joint operation between Singaporean authorities and Interpol’s Global Anti-Match-fixing Taskforce, which has been facilitating meetings between the Singaporean authorities and investigators from across Europe.
“Singaporean authorities have taken an important step in cracking down on an international match-fixing syndicate by arresting the main suspects in the case, including the suspected mastermind; no person should doubt Singapore's commitment to fighting match-fixing,” said Interpol secretary general Ronald K. Noble in the press release from the international police organisation.
According to news agency AP the arrested ‘mastermind’ is Dan Tan. Dan Tan has been in international police’s spotlight since Europol in February revealed the findings of a big match-fixing investigation.
The findings revealed, according to Europol, attempts to fix around 380 professional matches, and a total of 425 suspects were identified, including match officials, club officials, players and criminals, across 15 countries. Dan Tan was identified as the wirepuller and international arrest warrants were issued.
Match-fixing expert Declan Hill criticized the Singaporean authorities for not acting on the international arrest warrant issued, and today he still wonders how it could take this long before Dan Tan was seized:
“We still have not heard a credible reason why law authorities took almost one year to arrest a suspect when they had hundreds of pages of evidence presented to them. What have they been waiting for?”, Hill asks on his blog.
The Singaporean arrests come just days after the biggest Australian match-fixing scandal broke, involving 10 arrests, $2 million worth of betting wins and ties to a Singaporean crime syndicate, led by Dan Tan’s countryman and alleged partner Wilson Raj Perumal. Perumal is currently under police custody and assisting an investigation into Hungarian match-fixing and – Dan Tan.