Kelong Kings: Confessions of the world's most prolific match-fixer (35 page)

In March 2009,
following my meeting with the Bahrain FA, I organized an
international friendly match between them and Zimbabwe in Bahrain. I
went through all the paperwork to ensure that the Zimbabweans arrive
on time. The problem was that I didn't have enough money to fly the
team over. Despite our differences, I called Dan up to see if he was
willing to do business with me.

"Dan", I
said, "I have the Zimbabwean team going to play in Bahrain but I
don't have the money for their airfare, can you arrange?"

"No, I can't",
he cut me short, "I don't have any money either".

Dan still held a
grudge against me for the Syrian incident.

"OK".

Next I called
Sivarajan and asked him to help me find a financier. He introduced me
to a Chinese-Singaporean who ran a number of fried noodle shops all
over Singapore; the man went by a noodle's name, Cha Bee Hoon,
Hokkien for 'fried rice noodles'. Sivarajan told me that Bee Hoon had
money and that he would be interested in paying for the tickets in
exchange for information on the fix. I met Bee Hoon and spoke to him
about the business in hand. He said that he didn't personally have
the money to invest in the venture but that he would help me obtain
it from somebody else. Bee Hoon then proceeded to take me on a
business tour to meet people that might be interested in financing
the match. In the meantime, Dan was monitoring all of my moves and
calling me at the end of each day.

"You asked this
guy, right?" he would say. "And then you asked that guy,
correct?"

I don't know how,
but he was being informed
about
the places that I went and
about
the people that I met. As time ran out I got so
desperate that I even called Yap and Thana to see if they were
interested in doing business with me. They answered that they were
going to be in Johor to fix a match on a certain day and that they
could meet me there to discuss my proposal. We met in Johor Bahru,
Malaysia, over dinner and I made it very simple for them since they
were already familiar with the Zimbabwean team.

"Everything is
set", I said. "I just need money to fly the team over".

Yap and Thana told
me that they would check in their circle and
get
back
to
me asap. I waited and waited but to no avail; there was no reply.
Finally Dan's partner, Admir, who was in Singapore at the time,
called me up.

"OK, Wilson",
said Admir, "I will give you the money to fly Zimbabwe over.
I'll cover the cost for their tickets and for the hotel. You just go
and get things done".

"There is a
possibility", I warned, "that there will be no betting on
this match. I cannot be 100 percent sure".

"Well", he
replied, "that means we'll just have to try our luck".

"We can refuse
to pay the hotel bill to reduce our loss if there is no betting",
I suggested.

"No",
Admir was a real gentleman, "we will pay for everything even if
there is no betting. We don't want to get you
in
trouble".

Admir gave me the
money that I needed and I booked the tickets for the Zimbabwean team.
As soon as the tickets were issued, I received a call from Rosemary
of the Zimbabwe FA; she sounded hysterical.

"Wilson",
she said, "David called Jumbojumbo who is now refusing to allow
the team to travel. We need another set of players".

David was Yap's
nickname. Mother-fucker.

"How the fuck
am I supposed to re-issue the tickets for another 20 players?" I
asked Rosemary.

Even
though Rosemary was high-ranked within the FA, she had no power over
the national team when they competed outside of FIFA-calendar days,
as in this case. In order to get the national team players to travel,
she needed the consent of Jumbojumbo. He could prevent the national
team from convening the players from their respective club sides by
claiming that they were involved in other fixtures.
After
Zimbabwe's trip to Malaysia, Jumbojumbo had started ignoring me; he
had figured out that the money was coming from Yap and had pledged
his loyalty to him. Rosemary, on the other hand, knew that I was the
brains behind the organization and was on my side. I guess that
Jumbojumbo was not ready to let other people eat from his plate. This
was another peculiar trait of African mentality that I had noticed
over the years: you either give me a cut or no one else makes money;
Jumbojumbo was no different.

I was distraught.
After struggling so hard to find the money to arrange the match, Yap
had ruined my business with a single telephone call. I never should
have informed the heartless fucker about the game in the first place.
I was burning with anger; I could have killed Yap if I had the
chance. I picked up the telephone and tried to call Thana but his
mobile was switched off, so I called his wife.

"Get Thana to
call me right now", I said to her.

Thana rang me up on
my mobile.

"You
mother-fuckers", I yelled. "You think that you can fuck
with me like this? I will personally come to Alor Setar and burn
Yap's salon down to a cinder".

"Brother, cool
down", said Thana. "I have nothing to do with this. I
didn't know that Yap had called Zimbabwe".

I tried to calm my
mind and focus on what to do next to rectify the situation. When I
come to a dead end I don't just sit there; I crack my head open until
I find a solution. I picked up my phone and dialed Rosemary's number.

"Listen",
I said, "you call Jumbojumbo now and tell him that I offer him
ten thousand US dollars to release the players that we have selected
for the match".

I don't need to tell
you that Jumbojumbo was more than happy to make a buck and that the
team was soon on its way to Bahrain.

Alassane and I
traveled to Bahrain, where we hooked up with Dino, who was there to
oversee my work on Admir's behalf. By then, I had been hunting for
money left, right and center and half the punters in Singapore knew
that I was going to fix the match. All of this was happening during
the "Bulan Puasa" month, the Malay version of the Muslim
Ramadan. The game was set to start at twelve o'clock midnight
Singapore time. Punters back home, including Thana and Yap, were
sitting in front of their computer screens waiting to bet on a match
they knew Zimbabwe would lose.

"Wilson has
Zimbabwe", they all rubbed their hands in expectation.

Fortunately for me,
the Bahrain FA decided to delay kick off for an hour. The match-clock
on betting websites began ticking at midnight; 1 minute, 5 minutes,
10 minutes, 20 minutes, but the updates were not appearing; nothing
was moving. By the 45
^th
minute,
punters had given up hope that the match would ever appear on their
screens for betting.

"Fuck. There's
no live betting", they must have thought before hitting the
sack, "too bad".

Then, at around one
o'clock in the morning Singapore time, the match actually kicked off.
I was sitting on Zimbabwe's bench next-to the coach and the Bahrain
FA didn't bother to ask why I was there. Dino was watching from the
stands and Admir was in a Singapore hotel room waiting in front of
the website for the game to pop up. Three minutes after kick off, he
called me.

"OK",
Admir sounded excited, "the market has opened".

"Good".

I relayed the news
to the expectant Zimbabwe bench.

"We're in
business".

We were all very
psyched about this match. Rosemary was there with us; the coach was
there and the whole team knew what they had to do: we were cruising.
I was thrilled because I was broke and finally had the chance to make
some money. Admir called again.

"Can you pass
out instructions now?" he asked.

"Admir", I
said, "the match is in progress and I worry that what I say will
not be relayed properly to the boys on the field. You do all the
betting that you need to do, just don't place any first-half bets,
OK? Go ahead and do all of your betting then call me back at
half-time and tell me what you need. I will give you the result that
you want".

"Fuck you
then", said Admir, "we'll do what you think is best".

Dino was watching
the match from the stands and was pleased to see me on the bench
among the Zimbabweans. How often do you get to see your man dictating
the results from the bench?

The first half of
the game ended with Bahrain ahead by two goals. Admir called me once
again.

"I need four
more goals", he said.

"No problem",
I readily replied.

During the half-time
break I walked into Zimbabwe's changing room and gathered the players
in front of me.

"We need four
more goals", I relayed to them.

The second half
kicked off and Bahrain went 3-0, 4-0, 5-0.

I called Admir.

"Do you really
need the fourth goal?"

"No", he
answered, "it's enough. We closed shop".

"Good".

The game ended 5-2.
Zimbabwe scored two late goals once they were allowed to play freely
and that was it. Luckily there was live betting on the match and we
made loads of money. After the game, we took the time to get closer
to the Zimbabweans. Alassane was mingling with them and made friends
with a FIFA match agent named Shaka, who was traveling with the
delegation. In the end, punters like Yap who refused to contribute
and were keen to gather free information on the match didn't get to
bet a single dollar. Sometimes I truly believe that God is great.

The following
morning we all met for breakfast in our hotel dining hall. Dino,
Rosemary and I were seated together and she was discussing with Dino
the possibility of pushing the 2010 World Cup tickets to him. Dino
was persuaded that he could distribute the tickets for a good price.
As I got up from my seat to get some food from the buffet table I saw
Dino writing his e-mail address down on a piece of paper and passing
the slip to Rosemary. I went back to my seat and, after Dino had
left, took the note from Rosemary and threw it in the garbage can.

"This is
something that I really dislike", I scolded her. "Never
undercut one-another. How would you like it if I did it to you? I'm
sure you wouldn't appreciate it and that's exactly how I feel right
now".

I was not upset with
her, I never doubted her loyalty, but the rules of the game must be
clear to all.

On the following day
the winnings were delivered in the Dubai airport. When you do
business with Admir, the cash is always there on time. I met Rosemary
in the departures terminal and gave her the money that I had promised
for the job. After completing the handover, I called Admir and put
Rosemary on the telephone so that she could confirm that the amount
had been received in full.

"Did Wilson
give you the money?" Admir asked. "100 thousand?"

"Yes, 100
thousand", Rosemary acknowledged.

"OK, good".

That was it. The job
was completed and I received my cut: 50 thousand Singapore dollars;
the most I ever received from Dan's group, solely because Admir was
running the show this time around. Had it been Dan, he would have
paid me a petty sum as usual. Since Dan's associates had settled his
debts with Ah Kang, Dan had been temporarily stripped of his power
and Admir was in charge.

My success in the
Bahrain vs Zimbabwe international friendly match didn't pass
unnoticed. I had knocked at the doors of so many possible financiers
looking for funds that the word had spread like wildfire. A few days
later, Bee Hoon received a call from a Chinese investor; my
popularity had raised eyebrows all the way to mainland China.

"This guy
Wilson", the man said to Bee Hoon, "who could obtain this
5-2 score in an international friendly. I would like to see him".

Bee Hoon came
looking for me and briefed me on the call.

"He only speaks
Mandarin and a bit of Hokkien", he explained.

"Why not",
I said, "if he speaks Hokkien, I can talk to him on my own".

The mysterious
investor was none other than Ah Kang, Dan's betting house, who
immediately inquired as to what my next assignment would be.