South Africa v FIFA: Fikile Mbalula, SAFA, SASCOC and match-fixing: what's at stake (plus eNCAnews footage)

WITH South Africa facing serious allegations of match-fixing, FIFA and SAFA are at logger-heads over the way ahead - and Bafana Bafana could pay the price.

Ultimately (see video above, from today's eNCAnews) it comes down to this: South Africa must obey FIFA, deal with the match-fixing report and suspend the relevant SAFA members OR they must defy FIFA, hold a more general government inquiry in to SAFA's affairs and present their conclusions.

Tonight Kirsten Nemetandani, the SAFA President, insists there is no threat of a FIFA suspension but the world football body is KNOWN for taking sweeping action if they do not get their way. South Africa's increasingly promising crusade to reach the World Cup in Brazil next year could be in jeopardy.

It's Bafana Bafana the people care about, not SAFA's suits. And though I generally agree with Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula, I suspect FIFA's Jerome Valcke - now a South African citizen through marriage - knows certain members of SAFA will get off lightly if the government are involved.

Irvin Khosa, the Orlando Pirates owner who also runs the NSL, PSL and is a vice-president of FIFA, is effectively President Jacob Zuma's father-in-law after the Iron Duke's daughter Sonono gave birth to the polygamous leader's 20th child in 2011. There are reports of a second child since.

Khoza is the major power-player in South Africa sport. He even announced he would stand for the presidency of the South African Olympic organisation SASCOC last year but later withdrew. Though he was not one of five SAFA executives suspended - and subsequently reinstated - after the match-fixing report, his role must come under scrutiny.

Perhaps this is why FIFA don't want the government involved in the SAFA investigation. Or perhaps FIFA simply don't want further dodgy dealings exposed - particularly before, during and after the World Cup. Or maybe they are simply sticking to the old "no government involvement" line.

I have never liked the way FIFA run things. I'd back Fikile over the dictatorial "lifelong" FIFA president Sepp Blatter any day... but there are huge issues at stake. Here's why.

After a letter from FIFA warning Sports Minister Mbalula NOT to get involved in a judicial hearing over their report on the four pre-World Cup friendlies in 2010, a war of words broke out today less than 24 hour after the release of the World Cup 2010 report highlighting the success of South African football.

In line with their general policy, FIFA secretary-general Valcke co-signed the letter warning Mbalula: “Herewith we would like to emphasise that any other issues not related to the above should be handled entirely by Safa, as otherwise this would constitute interference in the internal affairs of Safa affairs by a third party and would clearly violate the principles contained in articles 13 and 17 of the Fifa statutes.”

Today, a "visibly upset" Mbalula fumed: "You do not write such a letter without speaking to a respected government. You speak to people in government and you speak to the minister.

"I will never accept that on behalf of this government. That is denigrating, undermining and they have got no regard for us."

Mbalula said he was "shocked and upset" by what he called "wild assumptions" but the truth is, his reaction will simply push Bafana Bafana - who heard today they will play their crucial away qualifier against the Central African Republic on a neutral ground - towards FIFA suspension and possible World Cup disqualification.

From FIFA's point of view, SAFA simply MUST deal with the match-fixing allegations. But with SASCOC getting involved this week, Mbalula clearly envisages a wider judicial inquiry than that agreed with FIFA 10 days ago. Both he and the Olympian meddler Tubby Reddy want to know why SAFA are currently in R92m debt after hosting both the 2010 World Cup and this year's African Cup of Nations.

They want to know if the R100m FIFA Legacy Fund is safe from pillaging - and what has happened to sponsorship cash.

Generally, I side with Mbalula here. But I doubt if a government-led inquiry will be effective. If FIFA can find a judge prepared to limit his inquiry in to the match-fixing issue alone, I can see REAL action being taken.

That would see many of the current SAFA executives thrown out - leaving the way open for Danny Jordaan, the man behind a hugely successful World Cup, to take over as president in September, when elections are due.

That might just be the best solution - Jordaan would then be able to clean-up SAFA leaving Gordon Igesund to continue the push for World Cup qualification unhindered by suspension and intrigue.

.

Here's my original response to FIFA's match fixing report:

While Bafana sleep, SAFA burns: the eery backdrop to the 2013 African Cup of Nations

Togo or not Togo? This is the 2010 side put
together by Wilson Raj Perumal which contained
NO Togo internationals against Bahrain

STRANGE days indeed for South African football. Bafana Bafana will be sleeping peacefully in Cape Town tonight while SAFA burns.

When Gordon Igesund’s “dream team” take on a sub-standard Norway on Tuesday in the Mother City, the action at SAFA’s glitzy headquarters next to Soccer City is likely to be far from friendly.

Look, it’s great to see Cape Town actually getting a Bafana game. They didn’t bother to bid as a host city for the 2013 African Cup of Nations, so they get this friendly, with former Wimbledon boss Egil Olsen bringing six debutants on tour to play the hosts followed by AFCON champions Zambia in Ndola on January 12.

It won’t be much of a test. In Norway, “home-based” generally means “didn’t quite make it”. There are many other nations where the same is true.

Gordon Igesund, apparently oblivious to the pressure created by a unique failure to emerge from the group stages at the 2010 World Cup, assures us: “It won’t be a train-smash if we draw or lose, it will not be the end of the world. To me, the only result that really matters is the one on the 19th against Cape Verde at Soccer City.”

And the same can be said of the friendly against Algeria on January 12 in Johannesburg, the final run-out before the big kick-off.

Truth is, these pre-tournament friendlies are meaningless of course. Unless, like South Africa’s games before the World Cup two years ago, they turn out to be fixed by a dodgy agency called Football 4U.

Wilson Raj Perumal’s company, the people behind Zimbabwe’s Asiagate scandal, were called in to organise those friendlies when SAFA suddenly realised they didn’t have anything planned at the back end of 2009. Perumal even offered to pay SAFA R1m for each friendly successfully hosted. Amazing.

Initially, I thought it was an innocent mistake from a desperate SAFA. Now I know differently. The guilty party knew EXACTLY how Zimbabwe got themselves in a fix in 2009 with the shock waves still reverberating around that scandal.

Perumal is a 47-year-old Singaporean with a long history of match-fixing. It was he who put out 11 amateurs masquerading as Togo’s national side against Bahrain in September 2010. And of course, he was behind Zimbabwe throwing matches against Thailand, Malaysia and Syria in 2009.  He says he does it to help African footballers “living in squalor”, paying them paltry amounts to fix matches while he makes huge profits on the Far East betting markets.

Perumal was first jailed for match-fixing in 1995 when he paid a football captain in Singapore $3,000 to throw a game. In 2000 he was convicted of assault for attacking Ivica Raguz, a player in Singapore’s Woodlands Wellington team. Apparently he was trying to weaken the team.

Perumal is still wanted in Singapore after being sentenced to five years for running over a police officer outside Changi airport in May 2009. He skipped bail and fled to England, where he lived under an assumed named before he left for Finland, where he was arrested in 2011 for attempting to fix local league matches. In the midst of all this, he managed to find time to sort SAFA out too.

Telephone records seized from Perumal’s hotel room in Finland show a global network of contacts including FIVE national football federations stored on his mobile, along with numbers for several current and former international players and referees.

Perumal served one year of a two year sentence in Finland and was released last year, his current whereabouts is thought to be Hungary where he is on remand… for match-fixing.

It would be best if South Africa simply came out and said all they know about their dealings with Perumal rather than attempting to brush everything under the carpet. Especially now, before a major tournament.

The identity of the man who first called Perumal – and allegedly took R1m from him for each of the friendlies – needs to be made public to clear up this mess.

Instead, President Kirsten Nematandani, suspended when FIFA’s report on those games dropped a fortnight ago, reinstated himself in the car-park outside the Association’s offices on Friday. Yes, in the car park, because his office was taken.

Curiously, the man who filled Kirsten’s dancing shoes, Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana, is none too happy about the man in suspenders returning with fellow exiles Dennis Mumble, Lindile “Ace” Kika and Adeel Carelse even before the enquiry promised by Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula.

In fact, that inquiry may now never be held. Mbalula says “hosting AFCON is of chief importance” maintaining that the match-fixing report will now be referred to “appropriate committees”.

That’s dangerous stuff. If FIFA sense a government minister interfering with football affairs, they have been known to take punitive action.

The Sunday Sun quotes a source saying: “Kirsten feels his name has been dragged through the mud, now we have to do damage control” while suggesting (strongly) an on-going war between Nematandani and Nonkonyana beneath a split picture of the pair and the headline GLOVES OFF AT SAFA.

Kirsten himself says: “AFCON is around the corner. This is where we need to channel our energy now. This has been a challenging time, a test of strength.”

My own source suggests “everyone knew SAFA’s consultant was fixing games before the World Cup.”

And the obvious conclusion is that Nematandani was reinstated on orders “from the very top” to keep him from revealing all about those unbeatable friendlies against Thailand, Bulgaria, Colombia and Guatemala. You’ll see what I thought of the 5-0 win against Guatemala at Polokewane on the night here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjzwzNhaeTM&list=UUkGxwYf7NwY7vYMdeTBg41w&index=26.

So SAFA, while keeping team hotel robberies secret and upsetting the SABC over their deal to cover tonight’s game on SuperSport, is humming with intrigue and back-stabbing over the real personality behind the match-fixing scandal.

  

They say the truth will out. Perhaps. If FIFA are serious about stopping match-fixing after Australian Chris Eaton’s resignation as their match-fixing hunter. But this one goes right to the top, close to the president himself. So it’s unlikely.

We could also mention the curious case of Thuso Phala and Siyanda Xulu, who had “everything taken” by robbers while in camp with Bafana at the Elangeni Hotel in Durban last month. That nasty little tale has been kept top secret by SAFA too.

It’s  also worth mentioning a report in Sunday’s City Press, claiming SAFA are bleeding cash, with R10m lost in the first four months of the current financial year and R56m gone last year. SAFA are mumbling about it being "just a cash flow problem", but again, we’ll see.

Despite this bleak backdrop, Gordon’s Boys must play on. Beating Norway’s local lads and Algeria’s AFCON failures shouldn’t be too tough. Then they take on cheeky Cape Verde, near-neighbours Angola and mighty Morocco in a bid to reach the knock-out stages on home soil as they did so emphatically – but against all expectations – in 1996.

I believe that, despite all the SAFA suffering, Bafana WILL get to the quarter-finals… and they do so with one glimmer of good news. Sipho Sithole, the musical AFCON publicist, tells me 350 000 tickets have been sold so far, despite confirming that the government’s funding for marketing only arrived on December 21.

Sithole laughs: “Four days before Christmas. And they expect us to have all the billboards and flags in place. It’s going to be difficult. But ticket sales are going as well as we could have hoped.”

If you are still hanging around the local Super Spar and struggling to get your tickets, twitter Sipho on @nativerhythms or call the hotline on 087 980 3000. It’s not too late.

QUESTIONS FOR SAFA:

Do you accept you broke FIFA Statute 13.1 (g), which prohibits the control of its affairs by an outside party?

Why was the appointment of Football 4U International never brought to the attention of the SAFA NEC?

Who decided to suspend Kirsten Nematandani when the report landed? And given that he is your president, who has the power to make such a quick decision when he was NOT one of the six named by FIFA for "further investigation"?

A shorter version of this story will appeal as my Neal and Pray column in www.thenewage.co.zaon Tuesday.

SAFA match-fixing: pre-World Cup naivety or serious corruption?

My take on the SAFA match-fixing allegations. Note: Bafana players are EXONERATED... and Wilson Raj Perumal's indiscretions first came to light a year AFTER he organised South Africa's pre-World Cup friendlies.

My question: Pakistan cricketers get jail for spot-fixing. English Premier League players don't. WHY?

Sinning Saints: Matt Le Tissier and Claus Lundekvam

IT was way back in May, 1997, I witnessed my first clear case of spot fixing in sport. Not in a county cricket game watched by a few dozen hardy fans, but in a Premier League football match between Manchester United and West Ham.

The game at Old Trafford was just two seconds old when West Ham’s Paul Kitson received the ball and, inexplicably, launched it over the touch-line for a throw-in.

The Hammers manager that night as they slipped to a 2-0 defeat? A certain Harry Redknapp, surprisingly overlooked for the England job and ejected from the Spurs hot-seat last month.

At the time Redknapp, found innocent on tax evasion charges last year, said: "I must admit it was a bit of a poxy kick- off. We were supposed to hit Iain Dowie but Paul hit it straight into the stand.

"It's a very dodgy bet and I suppose it could be open to manipulation. But having said that, what if the other side kicks off?"

Well, now we know. According to The Sun in London this morning, the clubs would have agreed all that before the start.

Claus Lundekvam, who played for Southampton from 1996 to 2008 and won 40 Norway caps, reveals: “We would make a deal with the opposing captain about betting on, say, the first throw or first corner. It’s not something I’m proud of. But for a while we did it almost every week.”

Lundekvam, now 39, admitted that such bets could also involve yellow cards – and even penalties.

Yet he insists: “Results were never on the agenda. That is something I would never have done. We were professional competitors. Even though what we did, of course, was illegal, it was just a fun thing.”

Yes, just a bit of fun for some of the most highly paid sportsmen in the world.

But tell that to the now-infamous band of Pakistan cricketers captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir. All three were jailed last year for what has become known as “spot fixing” when they bowled no balls to order against England at Lord’s in 2010.

Those Pakistan players were on a fraction of a Premier League star’s salary – but no doubt football will just sneer: “It was a while ago, no problem, the lads were just having a laugh” and carry serenely on without sanction. And all that despite Wayne Rooney’s father and uncle being arrested last year over a similar scandal during a Scottish Premier League match and rumours surrounding Joey Barton’ ridiculous sending off for QPR against Manchester City on the last day of last season.

Apparently it’s fine to jail Pakistanis for spot-fixing, but English Premier League players are exempt, even if they admit fixing.

But how does it work? Why put the ball out of play after just two seconds? It’s simple. At the time, spread betting was a new phenomenon. Originally invented for bored stock market traders, sport was the obvious growth market for the new form of gambling. City Index sponsored my trip to South Africa for the 1997 Lions rugby tour, and at the time, it looked like good harmless commercial symbiosis to have have their logo on my columns in the Sunday Mirror.

But by the time I returned from that tour, match fixing was becoming a dirty word in sport. And the full depths of in-game gambling were emerging. Wally Pyrah of Sporting Index confessed that there had been "concerns" about the United-West Ham match, “because there were a lot of rumours".

As it happened, the “spread” on a first throw-in at the average football game – when it normally happens – is between 70 and 85 seconds. But Kitson’s action meant United took the first throw-in after just seven seconds, meaning that anyone 'selling' at 70-85 seconds would have won 63 times his stake – 63 seconds at, say a fiver a second. That’s not a bad return.

Since then of course, all “novelty” wagers and bets on throw-ins have been abolished with City Index spokesman Paul Austin saying:  “The clear inference is that they were desperate to strike a bet.”

 Of course they were striking a bet! In his biography “Taking Le Tiss”, Southampton’s only superstar Matthew Le Tissier recalls a game against Wimbledon in 1995 when he and friends stood to make 10,000 for an early throw in. He says: “Spread betting had just started to be popular. I’d never have done anything that might have affected the outcome of the match, but I couldn’t see a problem with making a few quid on the first throw-in.

“The problem was Neil Shipperley knew nothing about the bet and when I tried to put the ball out, he headed it back. I charged around desperately trying to kick the ball out. We stood to lose a lot if it went much longer than 75 seconds.

“I had visions of guys coming to kneecap me. Eventually we got the ball out on 70 seconds. The neutral time meant we had neither won nor lost. I have never tried spread betting since.”

He might not have, but clearly other footballers carried on doing it for years, even after the Football Association banned all players from gambling in late 1997. Ludekvam admits: “There were often several players who put money in the pot — several hundred pounds each, sometimes a thousand each.

“We would then give the money to one of the staff who would put the money on for us, so we didn’t have to do it ourselves and so create suspicion.”

So for those who point the finger at Pakistan cricketers and shadowy middle-eastern betting syndicates, think again. Back in 2008, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger called for life-time bans for footballers caught fixing, saying: "It's the English culture. It's an addiction. Some players become crazy and are ready to sell their wife, their furniture."

He’s right of course. English football has been hit by betting scandals repeatedly since 1965 when Sheffield Wednesday trio Tony Kay, Peter Swann and David Layne came out to play in South Africa after being caught match-fixing.

So will the FA do anything about this morning’s revelations in The Sun? I wouldn’t bet on it.

Match Fixing: South Africa Threatened by Corruption and a Dodgy Referee

Ibrahim Chaibou. Not a name you might instantly recognise, but one worth remembering as the latest round of FIFA match-fixing allegations rocks football.

With Greece, Finland, South Korea and even Sumo wrestling in Japan under scrutiny, FIFA have now turned their gaze to a couple of bizarre games in the build-up to last year’s World Cup in South Africa.

First, as they opened the World Cup final venue at Soccer City, Bafana Bafana (The Boys, The Boys) beat Colombia 2-1 on May 27, 2010. Amid the blaring vuvuzelas, Kenyan referee Langat Kipngetich saw fit to award two penalties – one of them distinctly dodgy - to South Africa that day, leaving the Latin Americans a little irked. I seem to recall Colombia coach Hernan Dario Gomez getting quite angry about it.

Four days later, I drove up the N1 motorway through a forest of toll booths to the brand new Peter Mokabe stadium in Polokwane (once known as Pietersburg) to see Bafana Bafana take on Guatemala. Though BafBaf were ranked 92 at the time (a record low for a World Cup host nation) they contrived to win 5-0, their best-ever international scoreline. Great boost for an anxious nation that as I said when I filed this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjzwzNhaeTM.

Strange day too. Before the game, with an old goalkeeper friend of mine Deshi Bakhtawer, who now works for the South African Broadcasting Corporation, we stopped off at the Holiday Inns in downtown Polokwane.

A strange but clearly powerful man, short in stature but big on lip, was ordering people about. I chatted to him. He told me he was the “agent” for the game. Bodyguards surrounded him. He told me how he organised such friendlies, sorted things out (for a reasonable fee, I imagine)... before driving off to the ground looking suitably self-important.

The Holiday Inns was chaotic, filled with journalists, fans, officials, players, ex-players and, unless I’m very much mistaken, the referee that night, a man called Ibrahim Chaibou, flown in from Niger.

A couple of hours later, Mr Chaibou saw fit to award two penalties to South Africa, both for handball. The first, after just 12 minutes, was a travesty. Katlego “Killer” Mphela stuck both spot kicks away. Job done.

At the time, I saw both the Colombian and Guatemalan wins (and the subsequent 2-0 win over highly-ranked Demark in Atteridgeville) as perfect preparation for the World Cup for the hosts, who started the tournament on a run of 12 unbeaten internationals. Sure, the refereeing was a little generous, but hey, Guatemala had just suffered a series of earthquakes and their players didn’t look too bothered about the result or the refereeing.

Now, just over a year on, you start to wonder. Just like seeing Bernard Tapie’s Marseille in the early 1990s or Hansie Cronje’s cricketing Proteas at the turn of the century, perhaps I was witnessing something more than met the eye.

Look closer at Mr Chaibou’s recent performances and you’ll see he was the man in charge when Bahrain beat Togo 3-0 last year. That was the day Togo put out a side of nonentities, pretending they were international footballers. Mr Chaibou saw fit to disallow five goals that day, for no other obvious reason other than to keep the scoreline respectable. Critisisms of his performance were swept under the table as the headlines focussed on the bogus Togo line-up and the actions of an agent called Wilson Raj Perumal.

But a month ago in Abuja, our whistle-happy friend Mr Chaibou was at it again. Nigeria were (surprisingly) 4-0 up against a below-par Argentina side when, according to internet bookmakers, there was a rush on betting that there would be a fifth goal in the match.

Matthew Benham, of online betting outfit SmartOdds, informs us: "With 86 minutes played the odds for [a fifth goal] were absolutely insane. But the market was effectively saying there would be no more goals."

Lo and behold, Mr Chaibou allowed nine minutes of injury time (even though the fourth official had signalled only four), then awarded Argentina a bizarre penalty. Nigerian defender Efe Ambrose clearly controlled the ball with his thigh but Mr Chaibou awarded a penalty for handball. Mauro Bosselli took the spot kick, fifth goal went in and the match ended Nigeria 4, Argentina 1. The internet gamblers were the only winners.

At the time FIFA President Sepp Blatter said there would be fair hearing on the issue adding: ''We have voted huge funds on investigations of match fixing and there will be zero tolerance on corruption.”

And that’s the last we’ve heard. Mr Chaibou remains unsuspended and free to referee at the top level. Now look, I’m not in a position to say Mr Chaibou is corrupt. I’m just pointing out that he’s been under scrutiny ever since FIFA announced on June 2 they were “studying betting patterns during the match as part of a wider ongoing FIFA investigation."

And hey, Mr Chaibou retired this year as he hits the referee’s retirement age of 45. Soon he’ll be history. But what you have to ask is: How did he get to referee that game against Guatemala? Did he really fail to notice the Togo side in Bahrain weren’t real international footballers? Why did he allow the game in Abuja to go on and on?

Match-fixing is, as we all know, as lethal to footballing credibility as performance-enhancing drugs are to athletics and cycling.

And then consider the case of Phil Setshedi, the former Bafana Bafana assistant coach, and his recent run-in with South Africa’s special police unit, The Hawks, earlier this month. Apparently Mr Setshedi was keen on seeing a team called Mpumalanga Sevutsa Stars beat Garankuwa United in their feeder division play-offs in Cape Town last month. So keen he offered a policeman, posing as the match referee, R2,000 to ensure the right result.

South African police spokesman McIntosh Polela is quoted as saying: "A member of the Hawks who posed as a match referee met up with the identified suspect at the Southern Sun Hotel in Cape Town. During this meeting the suspect offered to pay the agent in order to secure a win for Mpumalanga Sevutsa.

"Rakhange Humphrey Setshedi was granted bail of R10,000 and ordered to appear again on 9 September... he has surrendered his passport and will report to the Sandton police station twice a week.”

With Greece charging 84 football officials over corruption surrounding 54 games over the last two years, South Korea arresting five players and Mexico also investigating similar charges, South Africa is in danger of being dragged into the grey area of match-fixing.

So far SAFA have made all the right noises with spokesman Morio Sanyane insisting yesterday: "We take this opportunity to assure FIFA of our unqualified cooperation and support should they institute any form of investigation.

"Should any of our administrative members be found to have played any role in the matter, the association will, without hesitation, take appropriate action against the culprits in order to protect its integrity.

“As things stand, we want to believe that the matches under question were played in the spirit of fair play.”

As I said on South Africa's eNews television channel yesterday, so do we, Mr Sanyane, so do we.

How fair is football: Match fixer was working within a mile of Wembley

Individuals from SIX national football associations are being investigated after a convicted match-fixer was found operating from a base near Wembley Stadium.

Wilson Raj Perumal, from Singapore, has been probed by Interpol and FIFA over his ability to influence the results of international and club matches around the world over the past three years.

The Daily Telegraph reports Perumal, arrested in Finland in February, had been working within a mile of the “home of football” in London, where the Champions League final will take place between Barcelona and Manchester United on May 28.

Fifa’s head of security Chris Eaton, a former Interpol operative said: “England is the home of football and London is a global financial centre so it does not surprise me that the financial aspects of this activity lead to London.

“The threat from match-fixing to the integrity of the global game is significant.

“Interviews with those involved have told us that that fixers can spend upwards of $300,000 (£182,000) to stage a friendly international and they do that with the expectation of a significant profit margin. Our information is that we are talking about tens of millions of dollars in profit from each successful fix.”

In 2009, Perumal was named as having arranged a number of games played by Zimbabwe in south-east Asia, some of which the Zimbabwe FA believe were fixed.

He was also behind the international friendly between Bahrain and “Togo” last year when the African side lost 3-0... and turned out to be a band of disparate players rather than the Togan national squad (pictured above).

Perumal is currently on remand in Finland after being arrested on February 25. He was picked up by immigration officers but is now under investigation for his involvement in alleged match-fixing in the Finnish domestic league.

FIFA and Interpol are believed to have evidence casting doubt over the result of nearly 300 matches over the past three years with referees being influenced by payments of £6,000 (R66,000) with Perumal’s men then allegedly tipping off gamblers in the Asian betting syndicates.

The London base provides “cover for the flow of funds through legal and illegal channels” according to the Paul Kelso’s special report in the Telegraph yesterday.

The FIFA under-17 and under-20 World Cups, due to be held during the summer in central America, could both be influenced.

Eaton added: “We have admissions from those we are focusing on that they have been planning to target younger players at the under-17 and under-20 level.

“That is enough to make me concerned that we need to put preventative measures in place.”

The Fifa investigation centres on Raj Perumal, who until February operated from a flat in a new apartment block in the Wembley City development, within sight of the distinctive arch of the national stadium.

Perumal, convicted for match-fixing in 1995, has also been found guilty of “theft and violence” in Singapore – he fled there in July last year after he was sentenced to five years’ “corrective training” in jail for driving his car over a police officer.

He is being held in Finland on suspicion of bribing players to fix matches and in connection with an attempt to pay $300,000 to a Finnish club. Eleven players have been arrested and face charges.

Perumal’s flat, in the Quadrant Court development at Wembley, was raided by officers from the Metropolitan Police in March following a request from the Finnish police.

The flat was empty when police raided it. Chandra Ratna, an associate of Perumal, told The Daily Telegraph that he had been asked to clear the flat by Perumal and said that he had thrown its contents away.

Telephone records seized by Finnish police are understood to reveal that Perumal has a “wide network” of contacts in world football – including 60 listed contacts in the UK including current and former international players.

High on the list of suspicious games are two internationals held in the Turkish resort of Antalya.

All seven goals in the games between Bolivia and Latvia, and Estonia and Bulgaria, were penalties with betting patterns indicating a “fix”.

Six officials – three from Hungary and three from Bosnia - have been banned for life.

Both games were set up by Perumal’s compatriot, Anthony Santia Raj.

As Perumal languishes in Finland, Germany is preparing for sentencing in their largest ever match-fixing trial.

Ante Sapina, a Croatian jailed for bribing a German referee in 2006, is one of seven defendants charged with fixing 47 matches including games in several European leagues, the qualifying rounds of the Champions League and a World Cup qualifier.

He is expected to receive a sentence of around six years.