happiness ChikwanhaTHE HAGUE. — Former Dutch soccer star Patrick Kluivert, currently director of football at French club Paris Saint-German, owed up to one million euros to a criminal gang after racking up debts betting on football, a Dutch newspaper said on Saturday.
De Volkskrant said the gang applied threats to pressure Kluivert in order to recoup the debt which he had repaid in part.
The newspaper said investigators had no proof the former player was involved in illegal match-fixing and his lawyer was quoted as saying his client was “only a victim in this affair.”
Prosecutors arrested five suspects in February in connection with the affair and during their probe uncovered documents linking the gang to Kluivert, who was called in for questioning, but “purely as a witness,” his lawyer Gerard Sprong insisted. — AFP.
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