The man who allegedly accused Croatia and Cameroon of foul play is under arrest in Finland

In the wake of the bonus scandal, Cameroon is caught up in yet another ugly story. The German edition Spiegel Online claims that the game of the "indomitable lions" with the Croats was negotiable. FIFA, however, has not yet spotted anything suspicious about the match. However, they do not deny that evidence of the dishonest nature of the game may appear in the future. Meanwhile, the Cameroonian Football Federation has launched an investigation into the matter. But as it turned out, the legs of this story do not grow from a suspicious surge in bookmaker rates, as is usually the case, but from private correspondence on Facebook.

“On Monday night Germany will play Algeria and if there is anyone who knows in advance how the game will end it is Wilson Raj Perumal. A Singaporean is considered “ godfather» fixing matches on which he is said to have made millions. Sports editor Rafael Buschmann, who has been communicating with Perumal for many years, tells amazing things: the organizer of the "agreements" in private correspondence on Facebook even before the start of the preliminary round match Croatia - Cameroon absolutely correctly predicted both the result (4: 0) and the in the middle, a red card will be shown. But Bushmann says he didn’t comment on Germany’s game, ”this post appeared on the Spiegel website on June 29. This information was replicated by all the world media, and Cameroon, along with Croatia, were involved in an ugly story.

The match Croatia - Cameroon did indeed end 4: 0, and Alexandru Song, the Cameroon midfielder, received a red card in the 40th minute. But this game was played 10 days before German edition hinted at its contractual nature. Why wait so long?

Meanwhile, Raj Perumal is now in a Finnish prison, has long retired and is working with the police and Interpol to investigate a Singapore syndicate making billions from betting and match-fixing around the world.

Who is Wilson Raj Perumal?

Singaporean Wilson Raj Perumal is a kind of Ostap Bender modern football, who worked for the biggest syndicate making money on match-fixing and clandestine betting.

Born in the 1960s in a Singaporean village, having started actively betting at the age of 13 and realizing quite early that you just can't make money on bets, Perumal has grown into the main manipulator of the results of football matches around the world. He became right hand the head of the syndicate Dan Tan (who, by the way, was recently arrested for illegal activities in football), who turned over billions of dollars in betting (according to Interpol, the profit was at least 35 billion dollars a year).

Three years ago, Perumal, FIFA's most wanted man, lost the trust of Dan Tan, owed millions because he became addicted to betting. He was betting on games that he knew no one had a hand in. And lost to smithereens. And then the syndicate organized his arrest. Wilson was arrested in February 2011 in Finland. First, for forged documents, and then, when they realized who they were dealing with, and for his football affairs. Perumal quickly realized who set him up, and immediately made a deal with the investigation. He began to talk about everything, the police only had time to write it down.

Perumal has lived in Budapest for the past two years under a witness protection program. During this time he got married and had twins. But in April of this year, Wilson was again detained in Finland on the basis of a warrant issued four years ago in Singapore. Moreover, this order has nothing to do with the fraudulent cases of Perumal. In 2009, at the Singapore airport, Wilson got into a skirmish with a security guard, pushed him away and left while he tried to detain him. The guard reported the attack to the police, and a year later the court sentenced the culprit to five years in a correctional facility.

And now the "great schemer" is awaiting the decision of the Finnish authorities: to extradite him to Singupur or send him back to Budapest. At the same time, Perumal really counts on the fact that Interpol, the police of those countries in which he helped to investigate match-fixing cases, and FIFA will recognize his usefulness and will not allow the court to deprive the necessary witness.

Italian journalists Alessandro Rigi and Emanuele Piano tell about the current fate of Perumal on their website. Rigi and Piano in 2012, as freelance journalists, began to investigate the history of the Singapore syndicate. And they went to Perumala, with whom they first communicated by e-mail. In the process of communication, the reporters realized that the Singaporean had something to tell the world, especially since he had already provided all the data to the police. And they began to convince him to write a book. Putting together all the stories of Wilson, Rigi and Piano wrote this book. And we thought that there would be no end to the publishers, but they were mistaken. In their opinion, the material was too killer, and they were simply afraid to publish it. On reflection, the journalists slightly edited their work, removed some names, nicknames and even some stories completely. Especially those that only Wilson witnessed, and no one can confirm his words. The book can now be purchased electronically for £ 15.

True, the annotation to it says: "After you read this book, you will no longer be able to watch football as before."

Secrets of Perumal

After the book "Kelong Kings" (kelong - in Singaporean jargon means "agreement"), that is, "Kings of the agreement", appeared on the network, and this happened a few months ago, it was immediately taken to pieces and the stories were replicated in the press ... In the book, Wilson describes how players, coaches, referees and even entire football federations are bought, and at all levels - from the youth league of some Togo to the world championship.

In the early 90s, Perumal already had a solid profit in Asia, it was time to move to Europe. The combinator started with England, with the 1995 FA Cup match Liverpool - Birmingham. Tried to negotiate with the Birmingham goalkeeper to surrender the game for £ 20,000, but he refused.

The next victim of the evil genius was Dmitry Kharin, known to all Russian fans, who then defended the colors of Chelsea, who had already been promised 60 thousand dollars. But Dmitry also refused, while saying that during the 1994 World Cup he already had similar offers, but they did not seduce him. We remember that the Russian national team then lost everything in the group except the match ... oops ... with Cameroon! Our team defeated the Africans then 6: 1.

Another funny story. When Wilson failed to agree with the players, the idea was born to bribe the stadium electricians so that the arena lights were turned off at the moment when the required score was recorded on the scoreboard. The fact is that Asian bookmakers paid out winnings even after interrupted matches. It was conceived in 1997 during the matches West Ham - Crystal Palace and Arsenal - Wimbledon.

The match Portugal - Tunisia at the 1996 Olympics, too, according to Wilson, was negotiated. It was necessary for Tunisia to lose by more than one goal. The goalkeeper helped, when the score was 1: 0, he jumped during the shot on the goal to the other side from the ball.

In 2001, the idea with the power off at the stadium was implemented during the Champions League match between Fenerbahce and Barça. However, the technique made such a step forward that the bet did not work. The backup generator immediately turned on, and Perumal lost a million dollars.

One of Perumal's loudest admissions was the announcement that it was thanks to his machinations that Honudras and Nigeria qualified for the 2010 World Cup. Circumstances turned out that the falsified results of other matches in the qualifying group helped these two teams get to the world championship. “And I could not brag to anyone! Damn it!" - wrote Perumal in his book.

How to organize a negotiated match? The main manipulator in football history is in charge

Wilson Raj Perumal organized a hundred match fixing, served three times and wrote a book. Now he is answering the questions of Match TV about how to influence the results of the games, how much money can be made from it, and how to deal with it in general.

The man in the photo is Wilson Raj Perumal. You may have heard of him. Perhaps they even watched the matches, the scenarios of which he came up with. In 2011, Perumala was detained by the Finnish police after trying to organize a negotiated match in the Finnish top league. They found contacts on his phone football leaders and football players from 38 countries of the world. In his laptop were telephones and emails of football people from more than 50 countries (in total, FIFA includes 209 associations). Investigators became even more interesting a few days after the arrest. Perumal made a deal and began to remember what connects him with each of those recorded in the phone book.

Before Perumal's stories, FIFA's security department lived a normal life. People came to work by 9:00, from 13:00 to 14:00 they had lunch, at 17:59 they turned off their computers and went home. After Perumal spoke, the lights in the FIFA offices stopped going out.

People leafed through Perumal's reports and realized that football outside the top hundred of the FIFA rating should be closed. And, possibly, higher. In his book, Kings of Arrangements, Perumal recalls how he went to England to explore a new market. One of his goals was Chelsea goalkeeper Dmitry Kharin. Perumal and his friend acted simply. They waited for Kharin at the door of the base, pretended to be fans, took pictures and asked if the goalkeeper could give them to the city. On the way, Perumal took out 60 thousand dollars in cash and suggested that Harin make sure that Chelsea lost the next match. Kharin refused.

He said that he had a long-term contract with Chelsea, - says Perumal in an interview with Match TV. - Said that he would not want to ruin his career because of this money.

- You got into the car of a stranger and offered a bribe. How is this possible?

Of course, we understood that there was a risk that he would immediately report us to the police. As soon as he dropped us off his "Mini", we rushed to the first taxi we came across in order to get away as soon as possible.

In that conversation with Perumal, Kharin admitted that he was offered to play fixing matches at the 1994 World Cup. And then he also refused. Perumal's words did not surprise the Chelsea goalkeeper then and do not surprise now.

I think that Kharin could well be offered to hand over matches at the World Cup. He really told us this. I have no reason to doubt. I think at that time the agreements were also played at tournaments of this level.

- Why, then? What has changed in twenty years?

Then there were no systems like BetRadar and FederBet, with the help of which you can see in real time how much money is being wagered on which events and track suspicious bets. Back then, there were fewer people who followed bets on non-top matches. Now there are experts assessing rate fluctuations. More controlling companies.

- That is, there are fewer fixing matches in the world?

My answer is this: many began to fear organizing them.

- Three things that need to be done to permanently solve the problem of fixing matches in football.

Close legal online bookmakers. Close illegal offices operating online. These two steps will keep match-fixing to a minimum.

Wilson Raj Perumal dreamed of becoming a military man, but ruined his biography as a child when he got into the police. He started gambling and got very upset when he lost. In order not to lose anymore, he decided to organize the necessary outcomes of the matches. Then he entered the largest syndicate led by Dan Tang. With the development of the Internet, it has even more opportunities. It was possible to bet not only on the matches of the Singapore championship, but also to manipulate world football.

For the Beijing Olympics, money could be loaded online not only for match results, but also for secondary indicators. It has become easier. For example, Perumal described the case of how he paid money to the Nigerians so that they were the first to start from the center of the field the match of the semifinal tournament of the Olympics with Argentina. And loaded a crazy amount into the bookmaker's office. One of the most eerie moments of his career happened when the referee tossed a coin before the match and pointed at Riquelme. One of the happiest moments of his career happened when Riquelme turned to the words of the Nigerian captain, listened to him, and then raised his hands up and said: "No problem, you start."

- That is, most of the agreements are played to make money on bets?

Not necessary. The presidents of the top leagues of clubs have good relations with each other, they can be good friends... Therefore, when one club needs glasses more than another, they can agree among themselves. And there is no financial reason for this.

Let's pretend: I'm the president football club... Another president suggested that my team lose this time. I agreed. What are my next steps, how do I need to agree with the team?

From my own experience I know: in order to be 100% sure of positive result, you need to negotiate with four players. There should be two center-backs among them. It was always more convenient and easier for me to work with the central defenders, and not with the goalkeepers. Well, it is also very important that the coach knows about your intentions.

- With whom is it easier to negotiate: with the players or the referees?

This question cannot be answered unequivocally, it all depends on the specific situation, and not on whether you are trying to negotiate with the referee or with the player. Much depends on the financial situation of a person.

In his book, Perumal wrote that he tried not to go into the Eastern European market and worked more in Africa. But he had many partners, and according to his information, one of the main breeding grounds for fixing matches in the world was the lower leagues of Belarus. But now everything is different there.

I think now the Belarusian league has become much cleaner. I follow the rates for these matches. They are very stable. Therefore, I can conclude that everything is better there than before.

- How much money can you earn on holding a fixed match in conditional Belarus?

It is impossible to make big money in such tournaments. Especially now, when the bookmakers are in control. I think you can earn about $ 100,000 for a match there.

- Have you ever thought to hold a negotiated match in Russia?

No never. The reason is simple: I just don't speak your language. I was not affiliated with this market, so I don’t know how many fixing matches you have played.

You wrote that you tried not to enter the Eastern European market, because it is very dangerous there. What did you mean?

I meant violence. Eastern Europeans are more dangerous in this regard. Asians are much calmer.

Perumal has never counted how many fixing matches he has had in his career, but he thinks that it comes about a hundred games. His book website even has a special section with match highlights organized by Perumal. Sometimes he gave instructions to coaches right from the bench. In the 90s, few places controlled who was next to the team in the technical area.

Wilson Raj Perumal was very fond of football and betting on it, but he really did not like to lose. This character trait allowed him to become one of the largest and most influential match-fixing organizers in the world, but it also put an end to the empire he had built from scratch.

If you want to do something, do it yourself

Wilson Raj Perumal was born in 1965 in the Indian region of Singapore. The boy always had a love for sports and was even a very successful athlete at the junior level. However, Wilson's main passion has always been football: since childhood he was a fan of Manchester United and did not miss a single game of Diego Maradona.

However, the young man connected his future not with game number one, but with military service: Wilson dreamed of a career in the Armed Forces of Singapore. What prevented Perumal from realizing his plan was that, while still a teenager, he was attracted to criminal liability for burglary.

Wilson did not grieve for long. Shortly after giving up the army, friends introduced him to the rates. At that time, the future King of fixing matches was 19 years old. Perumal, who loved football, liked the new hobby.

Wilson began to spend almost all of his time and money on betting. He enjoyed the game a lot. The only problem was that he did not win very often. After another big loss, the enterprising young man decided to “seize the initiative”.

Perumal organized his first contractual match from scratch: he rented a municipal stadium, rented two sets football uniform and invited his friends as players and judges. To attract the interest of bookmakers to the game, the young man placed advertisements in local newspapers. They said that the upcoming meeting will be the final of the tournament between Singaporean food service chains.

Perumal organized his first contractual match from scratch: he rented a municipal stadium, rented two sets of football uniforms and invited his friends as players and referees.

The scheme worked, and on the day of the “big final” Perumal won 15 thousand Singapore dollars, placing a bet on the victory of the “team in white”, which during the meeting was losing with a score of 3: 0.

“The bookmakers suspected that I had cheated them, but they could not prove anything,” Wilson later recalled. - They could not prove that my friends played in the match, and they had to pay me, as their reputation depended on it. If they refused, people would think that they simply have no money. "

According to Perumal, he turned this scam always when he ran out of money - 10-15 times.

Incorruptible Harin, Atlanta Olympics and hockey sticks

Over time, the ambitions and scale of Perumal's activities only grew. Refusing to work in an oil company, the young man began to organize match fixing in semi-professional and amateur leagues Singapore. Later, Wilson got to professional football... Moreover, Perumal began to try to conduct his activities outside his homeland.

In the mid-nineties, Wilson visits England. In the homeland of football, he makes a couple of attempts to bribe players, which, however, do not end with anything. Birmingham goalkeeper Ian Bennett refused to “surrender” the FA Cup match with Liverpool, and it was not possible to get an agreement from Chelsea goalkeeper Dmitry Kharin.

True, later Perumal admits that he was involved in the power outage at the Premier League matches of the 1997/98 season. Then two games of the English championship were interrupted due to problems with lighting in the stadiums. Later it turned out that representatives of Asian crime syndicates bribed employees football arenas with the aim of disrupting meetings. The reason is simple: in such cases, Asian bookmakers, unlike British ones, do not cancel bets, but pay out winnings based on the results already available.

At the same time, Perumal makes his first attempts to organize a contractual match at the national team level, however, he fails here too. So, the national team of Zimbabwe, six players of which he offered $ 100,000 for a defeat with a score of 4: 0, played with the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a draw. The attempt to bribe the goalkeeper of the Mexican national team at the Olympic Games in Atlanta (Perumal offered the player $ 300,000) also ended in nothing.

At this time, in his homeland, the great football strategist has new problems with the law. In 1995, he was sentenced to a year in prison for attempting to bribe the captain of one of the Singaporean teams.

Five years later, he will be sentenced to two years in prison for assaulting Woodlands Wellington footballer Ivica Ragusa. Perumal injured a football player hockey stick so that he could not play in the next match of his team. In 2003, Wilson was sentenced to 16 months in prison for attempting to bribe an arbitrator.

Offers that are difficult to refuse

Despite the increasing problems with the law, the peak of Perumal's career came precisely at zero. By the second half of the decade, he had become the largest and most influential organizer of fixed games in football. Having built an extensive network of connections, the one who will be called the King of fixing matches began to embody his ambitious schemes at the international level.

The experience gained has allowed Perumal to hone his methods of work. Now he did not try to bribe individual players, but directly cooperated with the football federations. His main partners were teams from Central America, Africa and the Middle East. At the same time, Perumal acted very selectively, working only with the most vulnerable organizations experiencing great financial difficulties.

The organizer of fixed games himself described the principles of his work as follows:

“I am making my offer. I say that I will cover all expenses for food, flights, accommodation and pay each player $ 50,000 per game if they agree to dance to my tune. "

According to Perumal, many federations greeted him "with open arms."

“I am making my offer. I say that I will cover all expenses for food, flights, accommodation and pay each player $ 50,000 per game if they agree to dance to my tune. "

One of these partners was the Football Association of Zimbabwe, which later became a participant in a major corruption scandal. In 2012, more than 80 players from that country were suspended from playing for the national team for "surrender" at the direction of Perumal for several friendly matches between 2007 and 2009.

In 2009, Wilson Raj Perumal opened Football4U, which has collaborated with a number of football federations in the organization of friendly (aka contractual) matches. However, he did not abandon his old schemes. For example, in 2010, Perumal organized a meeting between the Bahrain national team and the fake Togo team, which consisted exclusively of impostors.

Perumal has repeatedly claimed that he organized contract games at major international competitions such as Olympic Games Beijing, 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, 2007 Women's World Cup, 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup and qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The King of fixing matches is especially proud of his involvement in the last tournament. According to him, it was he who contributed to the entry of the national teams of Nigeria and Honduras into the final part world championship.

Perumal claims to have bribed one of the Nigerian rivals and influenced the outcome of the match between Mozambique and Tunisia, on which the fight for a place in the World Cup depended. For his work, Wilson received the right to host three friendly games for the Nigeria national team and part of the money allocated by FIFA for the team's accommodation during the world championship.

Well, the result needed for Honduras, according to Perumal, was provided by one of his close assistants.

“Getting Nigeria and Honduras to the World Cup was my personal achievement. I thought, “Damn! I brought two teams to the World Cup, but I can't tell anyone about it, ”Perumal later recalled.

"I took two teams to the World Cup, but I can't tell anyone about it."

There are always bigger fish

Despite the successes, legal problems continued to plague Perumal. It was because of them that he had to leave his native Singapore forever and flee to England. In 2009, the King of Match-fixing was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison for hitting a police officer.

In England, he continued to organize the contract games. It was he who was behind several friendly matches between the national teams on the eve of the 2010 World Cup. His company Football4U provided referees for these matches to ensure that their employers had the desired results.

Oddly enough, Perumal fell into the hands of justice not when he made an unsuccessful attempt to bribe the referee at the world championship, but a year later, when organizing a contractual game in the Finnish championship. The investigation found that Wilson offered nine Rovaniemen Palloseura players tens of thousands of euros for “surrendering” several meetings.

Law enforcement officials were shocked to find the contacts of representatives of 38 football federations on the phone of Perumal. When examining the suspect's personal computer, a couple of dozen more numbers were found. So the investigation established that Perumal kept in touch with more than 50 football federations of the world. This is a quarter of all official members of FIFA.

In the summer of 2011, Wilson Raj Perumal was sentenced to two years for organizing match fixing, forging documents and resisting arrest. Once again, having landed in jail, the King of the fixing matches decided to go against his principles and start cooperating with the investigation. The reason is simple: he was sure that his former partners had betrayed him.

In Finland, Perumal said he was part of a large Asian syndicate headed by Singaporean businessman Den Ten. According to Wilson, Ten was behind the organization of the fixing matches in the Italian Serie B, the Hungarian Championship and Major league Finland. Perumal's testimony did not go unnoticed in his homeland, and in 2013 Ten and his accomplices were arrested by Singapore law enforcement officers.

According to the former head of the FIFA Security Committee Chris Eaton, the reason for the deterioration in relations with Ten was Perumal's addiction to betting, which he could not overcome. He regularly gambled for large sums and once lost three million dollars in just one day. The craving for bets drove him to the point that he spent on them the money given to him to organize match fixing.

Also, Ten did not like the "excessive publicity" of Perumal, who had accounts on social networks and tried too risky schemes like a match with impostors from Togo.

Lay low in Budapest

Wilson Raj Perumal now lives in Hungary, where he is under a witness protection program. For several years now, Singapore has been unsuccessfully seeking the extradition of the king of match-fixing, sentenced in absentia. Perumal claims that he does not have a permanent job and is forced to live very modestly. He lost the millionth fortune earned over the years on bets.

He does not regret what he has done. According to him, most of the players with whom he worked thanked him for the opportunity to make big money and change their lives for the better.

“Only illegal bookmakers suffered from my actions, but their losses still pale in comparison with the money they earn,” said the former King of fixing matches.

Some may have heard of this man, who was arrested by the Finnish police in 2011 for fixing matches in the Finnish football league.

When arrested, during his arrest, lists of phone numbers of many top coaches, as well as many famous footballers as well as contacts of thirty-eight European football officials.

Before Perumal was silent, FIFA staff went to work as usual and left as usual. After Perumal decided to cooperate, the lights in the FIFA windows ceased to go out altogether.

In his book "Kings of Agreements", Perumal recalls how he went to England to master his business in English clubs.

His first target was Chelsea goalkeeper Dmitry Kharin. Perumal acted simply with his accomplice. He waited near the gates of the club for the players to start leaving. Seeing Kharin, they introduced themselves as fans of the club, asked to be photographed, and then asked Dmitry to give them a lift to central London. Already in the car, Perumal took sixty thousand dollars out of his bag and offered them to Harin, so that Chelsea would lose in the next match. Kharin refused.

“He said he had a long-term contract with Chelsea. He said he didn't want to risk his career for this money. that Harin will turn us over to the police ", says Perumal.

What has changed in football over the past twenty years in terms of match fixing?

"Now it has become much more difficult. Bet Radar and Feder Bet appeared. With the help of them, in real time, it is possible to track suspicious rates. Now there are many specialists and offices that monitor rate fluctuations. "

Fewer matches in the world?

"My answer is this: fewer people use them. Many are already afraid to organize them."

What needs to be done to avoid fixing matches?

"To close legal and illegal bookmakers operating online. These two actions will drastically reduce the number of fixed matches."

Raj Perumal has always dreamed of becoming a military man. But the biography was spoiled by drives to the police as a child. He played bets and lost very often. And then one day he decided to change the situation. He decided to adjust the results to suit himself. He soon entered a gaming syndicate run by Dan Tang. With the development of the Internet, Perumal also developed, he had more opportunities to control the outcome of matches. It was already possible to bet not only on the matches of Singapore, but also on the whole world football.

During the Beijing Olympics, money was loaded not only on the main indicators, but also on the secondary ones, which well disguised the manipulation of the fraudster.

For example, Perumal himself described how he paid the Nigeria national team to start the match from the center of the field first in the match against Argentina. The referee threw a coin into the air and, by lot, Argentina went to play the match. And then, the "charged" captain of Nigeria, asks Riquelme to give him the right to be the first to start the match, and he agrees. The bet has passed!

Is the purpose of the agreements to make money?

"No, not always. Many owners of top clubs have good relations with each other and very often agree that the opponent would lose the match to them. Then the representatives of the clubs agree among themselves about this and there is no financial background."

Suppose I am the owner of the club and representatives of the opponent offer me to hand over the match. What are my next steps? With whom to negotiate?

"From my own experience, I can answer. To be one hundred percent sure of the outcome of the match, I need to come to an agreement with four players. There must be two central defenders among them, not the goalkeeper. And most importantly, the coach must be aware of these agreements, and accordingly, in the share. "

Who is the best contact with you? Judges or players?

"A lot depends on who is poorer in terms of financial situation. In general, it all depends on the individual. Some completely refuse to cooperate. Once, I could not persuade a player to go out on the field and get sent off. Then I beat him with a golf club before the match. and he didn't play at all. By the way, I raised a lot of money at this event as well. "

In his book, Perumal wrote that he tried not to get into Eastern European football. He mainly concentrated on matches in Africa.

But he had partners who worked in Eastern Europe and, according to their information, the most corrupt in terms of agreements was Belarus, or rather, its lower leagues. But even there, over time, the situation began to improve recently.

"Now Belarusian football became cleaner in this regard. I follow the coefficients and I can say that they are stable and consistent. "

How much money can you earn on a match fixing, say, in Belarus?

"In such weak leagues, it is impossible to make millions on one match. Maximum one hundred thousand dollars. Otherwise, you automatically attract the attention of the relevant services."

Have you had any thoughts to hold match fixing in Russia?

“No, never. I don’t know your language, I know your mentality. I also don’t get into the little-studied betting market.

You say that you are trying to stay out of the Eastern European betting market. What does this mean?

"I mean violence. Eastern Europeans are very dangerous in this regard. It is very easy to agree with Asians in this regard."

V modern world you can buy and sell anything. Even Soccer game... The passion of people to make bets has been known since ancient times. In the modern world, people have learned to benefit even from this. The network of clandestine sweepstakes has spread across all continents. Dealers offer incredible odds and fantastic wins. The largest underground betting scam in history will be discussed below.

Football is the most popular game around the globe. And no matter how hard the FIFA leadership tries to defend its good name, the fact remains. This is the most corrupt sport. Literally everything is bought and sold here. Clubs, players, referees, games. And of course, any mafioso would like to lay his paw on such a tidbit. According to the latest figures, the annual turnover of clandestine rates reaches approximately $ 500 billion. Legal firms earn about the same.

The Internet has allowed shadow bookmakers to expand their field of activity and maintain their complete anonymity. This area resembles the stock market. Here the odds change every minute, new favorites and outsiders appear. Here you can bet on any factor. The number of goals, penalties, yellow and red cards, the time when a goal will be scored. There is no limit to imagination.

Match fixing has become commonplace in world football. However, the first attempts of fraudsters looked amateurish and curious. So, in 1997, during the match between West Ham and Crystal Palace as part of the next round of the Premier League in the middle of the second half, Londoners equalized the score. Suddenly the lights went out and the game was stopped. A week later, the same thing happened in another Premier League match. Police soon found out that the power outages were the work of a Chinese group that was taking bets on the match. As soon as the score reached the desired value, the gangsters thwarted the game and took their jackpot.

But this clumsy scheme did not have the right to long-term existence. Then the Triads, which had taken over the entire underground bookmaker market, found a different approach. And to implement the plan, they had a real genius at their disposal - Wilson Raja Perumal. He studied with another sports genius, Rejindran Kurusami, who made a fortune on bets, but went to jail for his machinations.

Wilson Raja learned everything from his teacher. He had a good feel for the game, knew the capabilities of each team perfectly, was well versed in the intricacies of the underground betting market, was familiar with many prominent officials of football federations around the world. Perumal knew how to get into trust, bribe, intimidate. Once, on his orders, the rebellious Croatian defender Ragusa was beaten, who refused to cooperate with the gangster.

Perumal honed his skills in the least civilized championships, where it was impossible to get a real term for such machinations. The Zimbabwe and Ghana championships were a kind of "alma mater" for him. He did not buy individual matches, but acquired an entire football federation. The bribery methods were the most primitive. Providing sponsorship, organization international tournament, treatment of players and their relatives. Poor African countries could not afford such a luxury and Perumal skillfully used it. For example, he organized a friendly match between South Africa and Bolivia, paying them $ 100,000 each for the right to appoint their own referees for the match. Naturally, the meeting ended with the necessary score for the gangster.

According to the FIFA security service, Perumal is just a pawn. At the head of this powerful network are four big Singaporean bosses who run their legal business to launder all betting proceeds. Tracking the betting path is impossible as thousands of silent mercenaries around the world place small bets on a million different credit cards. Such a financial flow is simply impossible to control.

Yes, Perumal was a genius. For ten years he was building a real criminal empire. It included players, referees, officials. Profits were growing. The glory of Perumal also grew. When he flew to the next "agreement" in Kenya, he was greeted by the entire football federation and the national team. Everyone who came up to shake hands with a swindler received a hundred dollars in his pocket. Soon, the football functionaries themselves began to call Perumal, with a proposal to "agree on the score of the next match." The criminal himself was not shy about his actions, believing that in this way he helps many football federations from third world countries not to go bankrupt. Soon he was subject to the whole football world Africa, Latin America, Middle East.

Feeling their impunity, the scammers began to declare "ghost matches", which were not actually held. This saved time and money. It was enough to pay an "independent observer" and a couple of bigwigs from the football committee, come up with a non-existent referee and the trick was in the bag. FIFA realized too late that many matches in remote corners of the world did not have any relevant documentation.

But as a genius, Perumal suffered from his own genius. Once his flight was delayed in Costa Rica and he was stuck in the city for a day. Out of boredom, he began to play the sweepstakes. And he did not bet on the matches of his own lured leagues, but on serious clubs such as Manchester United, Barcelona, ​​Juventus, which cannot be bribed. In less than twelve hours, he won almost a million dollars. And for the remaining five he lost it.

And then he got carried away. He bet and bet, won a million, lost two. I had to cheat the bosses to cover the forfeit. A year later, he was in debt as in silks. As a result, numerous mistakes began. The Bahrain-Togo match received unnecessary press coverage and attracted the attention of FIFA.

And then the Triad made a decision - to get rid of the presumptuous combinator. He was removed from business. He realized this when two corrupt national teams and a corrupt referee played a match that Perumal did not organize, but only watched on TV. The gangster went against his masters, sabotaging a number of deals. But by doing so he only aggravated his situation.

Soon, the new gangsters who replaced Perumal, due to their inexperience, fell under the gun of FIFA and the bosses from the Triad realized that their business was covered with a copper basin. It remained only to hand over Perumal to the authorities, which Dan Tang's boss ordered the former protege of Santania to do. He was taken in February 2011. In revenge, the criminal surrendered his owners without batting an eye. The trial continues to this day.

Unfortunately, the criminal mind is quite flexible. And this scheme will be replaced by another. The underground betting world is too lucrative to be left unattended.