Singaporean jailed for football match fixing

A Singaporean businessman was sentenced to three years in prison today for providing prostitutes to three Lebanese football referees for fixing future matches.
Eric Ding was found guilty on July 1 of bribing Lebanese match officials with prostitutes to induce them to fix matches they were to officiate in future.
The District Court denied Ding's bail extension request.
Defence counsel Hamidul Haq told the district court that Ding will be appealing against both the conviction and the sentence.
Singapore media reports said prosecutors from the Attorney -General's Chambers intend to file a notice of appeal against the 36-month jail sentence.

District Judge Toh Yung Cheong ruled that there was a risk of Ding absconding which must be balanced against Singapore's international standing.

The Judge heard the prosecution argument that the accused had every reason to abscond.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Alan Loh said Ding, whose wife and daughter are Thai and live in Bangkok, appears to be part of a syndicate and it would not be difficult for syndicate members to support him while on the run.
"There's no special reason why Ding should be allowed to go on bail," Loh said.
The prosecution had pressed for a stiff sentence of four to six years' jail and a fine of USD 95976 to USD 239942.

The prosecution had called for a stiff "exemplary" penalty was warranted in the public interest.
The prosecution also said that although no match-fixing had taken place, accused should not be given any leniency just because the authorities were efficient in their arrests.
But his lawyer argued that no money had changed hands between Ding and the Lebanese officials.
Judge Toh said Ding's offences were premeditated and that he had been "swayed by the potential profit and the difficulty in detecting such match-fixing offences due to use of the internet".
"The accused would have known match-fixing is harmful to the global reputation of the sport and the reputation of the city in which the match-fixing takes place," he added.