Notorious Singaporean match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal claimed he fixed the Super Eagles’ 2010 World Cup qualifier against Kenya with officials from the Nigeria Football Federation led by the current General Secretary Muhammed Sanusi to help the Eagles qualify for the Mundial in South Africa.
Sanusi who was then Head of International Competition met Raj Perumal at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, early 2009 to strike a deal ahead of the Super Eagles make-or-break 2010 final qualifier against Kenya.
“I got to meet officials of the Nigerian football federation through a Nigerian football agent, Odira Sylvester Ezeh. I had invited the national team before to Malaysia for the Intercontinental Cup.”“I told them I’ll make sure I do everything to make Nigeria qualify for the World Cup in 2010, as I’ve got two to three players in the Kenyan team that are ready while my company will give Mozambique $100,000 for getting a positive result against Tunisia in Maputo.” Perumal said.
In exchange, he wanted his company to get the official mandate to organise pre-W/Cup friendlies for the Eagles.
Though, Sanusi came out to vehemently deny knowing the Singaporean when Aljazeera reached out to him.
Perumal, who was jailed for two years for fixing and manipulating matches at international level, revealed in an interview with Al-Jazeera’s undercover series, People and Power, how he tapped up some African national team players and their federations in fixing international friendlies and matches during South Africa 2010 World Cup qualifiers through his company Football For You international.
Credit. Punch
