Dan Tan, also known as Tan Seet Eng, leaves the Supreme court in Singapore in Nov 2015. PHOTO: AFP / ROSLAN RAHMAN
A Singaporean accused of leading the world’s largest football match-fixing syndicate was rearrested Tuesday about a week after he was freed by the country’s highest court, police said.
Tan — also known as Tan Seet Eng — was arrested in September 2013 but never tried. He was released on November 25 after the Court of Appeal ruled that it was “unlawful” to keep him detained because he did not pose a danger to public safety.
But on Tuesday, police said they had rearrested him “for investigations into suspected involvement in criminal activities”. “Investigations are on-going,” police said in a brief statement without giving further details.
Tan’s earlier release was criticised by football’s world governing body FIFA and other analysts as a blow to efforts to rid the global sport of corruption.
FIFA said through its spokesman last week that it was “very disappointed” with Tan’s release “given the gravity of his past activities relating to match manipulation”.
After Tan’s first arrest in 2013, the then-Interpol chief Ronald Noble said the Singapore-based ring was the world’s “largest and most aggressive match-fixing syndicate, with tentacles reaching every continent”.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, under heavy international pressure, had invoked a special anti-gangster law against Tan, 51, after it became difficult to find enough evidence and witnesses to file criminal charges.
The law allowed the home affairs ministry to order the detention of suspected criminals without trial subject to an annual review.
But the three-judge Court of Appeal, Singapore’s highest legal authority, said that while match-fixing was “reprehensible and should not be condoned”, Tan’s alleged acts “all took place beyond our shores” and no evidence was presented to show that potential witnesses were being intimidated.
Chris Eaton, the Qatar-based executive director for sport integrity at the International Center for Sport Security, had also criticised the court’s ruling and urged Singapore to update its laws.
“Dan Tan Seet Eng wrought enormous damage in the global sport of football. Evidence of it abounds internationally,” Eaton told AFP last week.
Persistent allegations that affluent Singapore is a major hub for match-fixing have stained its reputation as one of the world’s least corrupt nations. AFP
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