English football match fixing court case

[David Guyatt]

See me and raise me from a yellow card to a red card anyone?

Match-Fixing Claims: Police Launch New Probe


A newspaper says it has evidence of a player saying he could arrange a yellow card booking in the Championship League.

8:17am UK, Sunday 08 December 2013

Video: Football Match-Fixing Claims

Police have confirmed to Sky News they have opened a new investigation into match-fixing allegations.
The National Crime Agency said it is looking at claims passed to them by the Sun on Sunday.
The newspaper alleges it has evidence of a player saying he could arrange a yellow card booking in the Championship League in exchange for thousands of pounds.
The Sun on SundayIn a statement, the National Crime Agency said: "The NCA can confirm that the Sun on Sunday has passed material from its own investigation to the National Crime Agency.
"An active NCA investigation is now under way and we are working closely with the Football Association and the Gambling Commission. We cannot comment further at this stage."
Sky News sports presenter Charlie Thomas said: "The fact that the NCA is investigating indicates just how seriously they are taking these allegations."
Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey, said: "We treat any allegations of criminal activity in our competitions with the utmost seriousness.
"Given that there is an ongoing police investigation into this matter, we cannot comment further at this time.
"Although, we would encourage anyone with any evidence to report it to the Police.
"We will be giving our full assistance to the Police during their investigation."
The National Crime Agency is investigating separate fixing claimsThe new probe comes after the NCA announced at the end of last month that it had launched an investigation into "a suspected international illegal betting syndicate".
Gambling on the matches is thought to have taken place on Asian-based betting services and so far investigators to do not believe British betting markets are involved.
The inquiry was launched after an undercover investigation by the Daily Telegraph newspaper, which recorded one alleged fixer offering to rig two games.
It is understood to involve clubs in the English Football Conference, the level below the Football League.
On Thursday, the NCA revealed that two footballers from Brighton-based Conference South team Whitehawk FC had been charged over match-fixing allegations.
Michael Boateng and Hakeem Adelakun, both 22 and from the Croydon area of south London, were charged with conspiracy to defraud contrary to common law.
The two men have been bailed to appear at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on December 11.
They are the third and fourth people charged to date in connection with the NCA investigation into the alleged international illegal betting syndicate.
Chann Sankaran, 33, from Hastings, East Sussex, and Krishna Sanjey Ganeshan, 43, from Singapore, were charged on November 28 with plotting to defraud bookmakers.
Both were remanded in custody to appear at Birmingham Crown Court on December 13.
Thomas said both NCA investigations were being carried out separately.
He added: "This is a situation that football has been fearing and had hoped it had nothing to do with football at all, but now it appears it is encroaching on the league as well as the non-league."

Obviously this ONLY ever happens in the lower Conference leagues and on kiddies football fields, where as we all know there is a vast amount of interest of from far east begging syndicates - because, as we also all know, the average Singaporean and Chinese better excitedly follows each match of all these barely known league matches on Sky TV's dedicated channel "Betting-4-Us" which transmits these vastly exciting matches all over the world, from a dedicated bank vault.

Phew! Thank God I managed to correct, in time, any possible misconceptions that might have arisen by unaware readers who though my comments were directed at the vast money enterprise that is the English Premier League.

Does anyone have an end season schedule of the hugely popular Conference and Isthmian leagues tours to the far east please?