Indian-origin man charged with match-fixing

Singapore: An Indian-origin man in Singapore, along with three others, were charged on Saturday for their alleged role in conspiring to fix a South East Asian (SEA) Games football match.

Singapore-based Rajendran R. Kurusamy, 55, was accused of corruptly agreeing to give S$15,000 ($11,130) to Orlando Marques Henriques Mendes -- the technical director of the Football Federation of Timor Leste -- as a reward, in exchange for arranging for his football team to lose their SEA Games match against Malaysia, Channel News Asia reported.

Rajendran has denied the charge.

Orlando is also the team manager for the football team fielded by Timor Leste for the SEA Games. Court documents revealed that Rajendran had met the official at Singapore's Orchid Country Club on May 28.

Orlando was charged for allegedly agreeing to accept the money.

Two other men were also charged for their alleged roles in the conspiracy. They are former Timor Leste football player Moises Natalino De Jesus, and Indonesian player, Nasiruddin.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Khoo asked for the four men to be remanded for a week for further investigations.

He said the arrests were part of a large operation by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).

The men will be back in court on June 5.

If found guilty of corruption, the men could be jailed up to five years and fined S$100,000.