AN ASIAN man fingered as the leader of a betting syndicate involved in alleged match fixing has pleaded his innocence and denied he had a corrupt relationship with suspended ZIFA CEO Henrietta Rushwaya.
Rushwaya is alleged to have organised a trip by the Zimbabwe national team to Malaysia on December 28 last year during which matches are said to have been manipulated.
Malawian sports consultant Felix Sapao has now come out to say Rushwaya also set up a meeting between him and Wilson Raj Perumal, who works for a Singapore sports agency, to help fix matches involving Malawi.
In his first public statement, Perumal said: “Please note that I work for a sports organisation in Singapore. We organise international friendly matches and tournaments around the world.
“We do not do match-fixing and allegations without substance must be discarded. I know Ms Rushwaya and she has never engaged herself in such negative activities.”
Rushwaya has been suspended by ZIFA as a probe into the scandal intensifies. Probe chairman Ndumiso Gumede has spoken to players and coaching staff who were on the trip amid media claims that Rushwaya paid some of the players to facilitate the fraud.
Sapao has added a new twist to the saga after writing to ZIFA and CAF alleging that Rushwaya and a Zimbabwean FIFA-licenced agent, Kudzi Shaba, tried to get his home country involved with the syndicates.
Shaba denied the allegations, while Rushwaya said she could not comment.
In an email to FIFA development officer for Southern Africa, Ashford Mamelodi, and CAF secretary general Mustapha Famy, Sapao claimed that Rushwaya tried to link him with Asian businessmen when Malawi hosted Guinea in a World Cup qualifier last year.
Sapao is also the local agent for French television marketing company, SportFive.
In the email, Sapao claimed Rushwaya called him advising that a friend of hers was coming to Malawi. She asked Sapao to organise accommodation for him.
“This person came and introduced himself as someone who organises matches in Asia, and has done so for Zimbabwe and Botswana,” wrote Sapao.
The person in question was Perumal, who represents a Singapore-based company called Events and Projects Executive.
“I received a call from Henrieta’s friend,” wrote Sapao. “He then told me that he runs a betting syndicate and wanted to talk to four players from TP Mazembe, offering US$150,000 to each of the players and offering me US$300,000.
“He informed me that he would be able to buy me cars as he had bought Henrietta (a jeep and a Mazda CR9) cars and Kudzi a car (E240 Mercedes).”
Rushwaya says the cars indicated by Sapao in fact belong to the state transport procure, the Central Mechanical and Equipment Department, without explaining how she got them.