Fifa target Monomotapa?

into match-fixing and illegal gambling on matches, with Monomotapa’s controversial tour to that country, two years ago, believed to be part of the agenda.
The world football controlling body say Asia, particularly Malaysia and the vast market provided by China, are the heartbeat of match-fixing and illegal gambling in football matches.
Football Association of Malaysia secretary-general, Datuk Azzudin Ahmad, yesterday said he suspects the Fifa officials were interested in the controversial visit by Monomotapa, who masqueraded as the national team, and played two friendly matches against Malaysia in 2009.
However, it’s certain that the Fifa officials want more than the Monomotapa tour given that the world governing body’s security chief Chris Eaton fingered Asia on Monday as the heart of the match-fixing and illegal gambling network in the game. Malaysia has been labeled one of the centres of match-fixing and illegal batting in football and might play a bigger role, in helping Fifa in their investigations, beyond the two matches played by Monomotapa.
There has always been suspicion that the FAM authorities work closely with match-fixing agents and illegal gamblers, which makes it possible for them to arrange international friendlies, featuring the Malaysian national team.
Without inside help from the FAM officials, the match-fixing agents and illegal gamblers would find it impossible to stage international matches involving the Malaysian national team, which has hosted the bulk of African nations, in friendlies.
Monomotapa toured Malaysia two years ago, disguised as the Warriors, and played two friendly matches against their hosts before the games were stripped of their “A” international status following revelations that Monoz were not the Zimbabwe national team.
That tour is being investigated by a Zifa board team, led by the association’s vice-chairman Ndumiso Gumede, tasked with probing a scandal that has been dubbed Asiagate by Zimbabwean newspapers.
The second and final report by the Zifa investigators, who include Benedict Moyo and Elliot Kasu, is expected soon although, with Fifa having the financial resources to go into Asia and investigate, it could not be established last night whether Gumede and company might also want to feed off the findings from the world football controlling body.
Ahmad said although Fifa had advised him of the intended visit, they didn’t spell out the agenda of their trip and what they were investigating.
The FAM secretary-general said he contacted Chris Eaton, the Fifa security chief, yesterday after reports in the Malaysian media said he would be visiting to probe two friendly internationals between Malaysia and Monomotapa two years ago.
“I am still in the dark,” Ahmad told Reuters yesterday. “All I knew is what I picked up in the media last week but we had no correspondence from (Fifa).
“We called Mr Eaton yesterday and he said they were coming around next week. He said he would be sending a letter with an explanation this week.”
Ahmad said he “guessed” the visit would relate to the two 2009 matches, which were stripped of their “A” international status, after it was found out that the Zimbabwe side was a club team.
“As far as the games against Zimbabwe, we are very clear in our minds. We got a notification from the Zimbabwean FA itself,” he said.
“As you are aware when another national body sends a letter, it’s really unethical to question them. When they committed that they would be sending the international squad, we weren’t going to question them.”
Questions will, however, be asked about how the FAM authorities were still prepared to host a makeshift Warriors’ team, which played two friendly matches on their territory in December 2009 during an unsanctioned tour, if they really felt betrayed when Monomotapa came disguised as the Warriors.
The Warriors played a Malaysian top-flight side Selengor, during that tour in December 2009, which could only have been possible with the greenlight from FAM, and also took on Syria on Malaysian soil.
The players have claimed they were threatened by agents to play in a particular way to suit certain interests.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter said on Monday that football’s world governing body would be donating US$28 million to Interpol to fund a dedicated anti-corruption unit in Singapore to help fight match-fixing.
Interpol secretary-general Ron Noble told Fifa in Zurich that Asia was “a hotbed of betting and match-fixing”.
When asked about the extent of match-fixing in Malaysia, Ahmad said it was very difficult to determine.
“Your guess is as good as mine, talk of match-fixing is everywhere, all the time but there’s nothing official that anyone wants to report to the police or anti-corruption officials,” he said.
“So there’s nothing we can do.”
Part of the problem, he said, was that teams were reluctant to report suspected match-fixing through official channels.
“They sack people for playing matters,” he said. “On that basis, we can’t probe them.
“The FAM is always telling our clubs and state teams that they should go to the authorities but they just terminate the contract of the player for ‘underperforming’.”
Fifa is investigating two international friendlies played in Turkey in February in which seven penalties were awarded, one of them taken twice.
The six match officials involved have been suspended pending the outcome.
Fifa are investigating more than 300 matches, spread over three continents, which they believe might have fallen prey to sophisticated match-fixing agents. German authorities say there are more than 300 matches, in their country alone, which are under investigations.
“The threat of match-fixing in sport is a major one, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to tackle the threat,” said Blatter.
“In the fight against illegal betting and match-fixing, the preventive measures that can be taken and the protection of the players and the integrity of the game are of the utmost importance.
“Joint work with the authorities and with Interpol is crucial for success, and for this reason we are very pleased to announce this contribution, which will further enhance our co-operation (with Interpol).”
Interpol chief Noble said this was the right initiative and Singapore, which will host the dedicated Fifa Anti-Corruption Unit, was the right place.
“I’m not surprised by the efforts of transnational crime,” Noble said. “It’s a high profit, with a low risk of getting caught, and with online bets, there is the opportunity to make huge amounts.
“Asia is a hotbed of betting and match-fixing and Singapore is among the least corrupt countries on the planet so there may be no better place than to set up this initiative in Singapore.”
Noble, however, said he believed that most corruption was at the lower levels.
“The cases involve low level matches, lower level leagues. At its highest levels, it’s my opinion that football is a clean sport and what spectators see happen on the pitch is legitimately happening on the pitch.”
A German police commissioner, Friedhelm Althans, who busted a match-fixing ring in Bochum in 2009 said:
“There is indeed a worldwide network of people active in this field, it isn’t just about pursuing individual clubs and players but about attacking the roots and drive out these worldwide networks.”
Zifa investigators believe Singapore national, Wilson Raj Perumal, was the central figure in what they suspect to have been a match-fixing and betting scandal that involved the Warriors during tours to the Far East. Perumal is currently languishing in jail in Finland, awaiting trial on a number of cases involving match-fixing and immigration violations where he allegedly entered the country under false identity, and has turned into a key figure in Fifa’s investigations. – Reuters/Sports Reporter.