Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide

**WORLD EXCLUSIVE**

TNP PHOTOS: Zaihan Mohd Yusof

HE RAN away from the law in Singapore last year.

And after making his first appearance in court in Rovaniemi, Finland, on Feb 25, Wilson Raj Perumal tried to flee yet again.

The funny thing about the Singaporean's escape bid was that two policemen guarding him didn't have to shout "Freeze!".

Wilson Raj did it on his own.

Clad only in jeans and a T-shirt, the notorious "kelong king" had tried to flee in sub-zero temperatures.

His police guards didn't even bother to give chase as Wilson Raj broke into a run as they left the courthouse.

As it was minus 30 degrees Celsius in Rovaniemi at the time, they knew that Wilson Raj was not going to get far before the bone-chilling cold stopped him in his tracks.

Fifa's head of security, Mr Chris Eaton, told The New Paper on Sunday (TNPS) in Helsinki: "The (Finnish) police just stood there and watched him for a while.

"After a short distance, he gave up and walked back to them. They asked him if he would like to get into the car and he said yes."

It is not clear why Wilson Raj was dressed in light clothes in such cold weather.

When TNPS asked a Finnish investigator about the ill-conceived escape attempt, he said: "Oh, yes, that was funny."

Wilson Raj remains in a jail cell in Rovaniemi, an hour's flight from the Finnish capital of Helsinki. His only visitors are his girlfriend, sister and Finnish lawyer.

The Singaporean fugitive has been held there since his arrest on Feb 24 while trying to leave Finland, allegedly using a fake passport.

His arrest and alleged involvement in international match-fixing have sparked a worldwide probe.

Since his capture, Wilson Raj has been cooperative, lead investigator Jukka Lakkala told Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.

It is believed that he has given information about his match-fixing operations in Europe and in South-east Asia.

Mr Eaton said: "He has given names of people in his organisation and also offered to name matches which he had previously fixed before he was arrested.

"We are investigating this information. And our investigators are on the ground to see if the fixes have been put in place."

It is believed the Finnish police had been monitoring him before the arrest.

When they checked his hotel room, they found more evidence that could help with their investigations.

Said Mr Eaton: "We now have to study the sudden wealth of information which we got from his two mobile phones and his laptop.

"These are valuable... It shows us his links to global criminality. And people he regularly contacts."

The Finnish clubs Wilson Raj was linked to have been thrown into disarray.

One of them, Tampere United, has been banned from this season's league.

Investigations revealed that the club accepted 300,000 euros (S$540,000) late last year from Exclusive Sports, a Singapore company which Wilson Raj had allegedly represented.

Match and travel bans

Eleven players from Rovaniemi Football Club (FC), AC Oulu and Helsinki FC have been given temporary match and travel bans.

Mr Kimmo Lipponen, managing director of the Finnish Football Association told Helsingin Sanomat: "The teams had not made any agreements among themselves.

"Instead, there are large-scale global criminal operators lurking in the wings. We are talking about a very big and serious matter here."

Wilson Raj's links to global match-fixing syndicates have caught the attention of world football governing body Fifa and Interpol, which are now helping the Finnish authorities with the probe.

Mr Eaton said: "We're having a close look at him (Wilson Raj) to see if he is 'middle management' or is more senior.

"We think he may have been involved for some considerable time in fixing international football matches. It might be he is more significant than we first thought."

Mr Eaton seems to think that there is a structure within Wilson Raj's match-fixing syndicate.

"We now know more detailed information about his financiers, runners, corrupt players and referees from investigations.

"What I would like to know is whether Wilson's syndicate has a direct link to the characters in the Bochum match-fixing trial.

"I can't say for sure by quoting any official sources, but my gut feel is there is (a connection) because the investigators in Bochum have arranged to meet the investigators from Finland."

In a recent trial in Bochum, Germany, three members of a betting ring were jailed for nearly four years for manipulating 300 football matches across Europe.

It is increasingly clear that Wilson Raj is not the only player in fixing matches.

Yesterday, The New Paper reported on how Fifa believes that Singapore is an "academy" of match-fixing, with a significant number of games being rigged from here.

Said Mr Eaton: "Since Wilson has been arrested, match-fixing worldwide hasn't stopped. This indicates that the problem is significant."

It has also become clear that Wilson Raj, who is expected to be charged soon with bribery in a Finnish court, is not a new player in Finland.

Investigators believe that he first ventured to Finland in 2009.

The rather bare Rovaniemi stadium, where Wilson Raj was often seen speaking to players, is just a 20-minute walk from his cell.

Sources close to the investigations said that after a Feb 23 match between Rovaniemi FC and Tampere United, Wilson was seen outside the stadium scolding Christopher Musonda, one of the Zambian players implicated in the probe.

Apparently, the outcome of the match had not gone according to plan.

The next day Wilson Raj was detained at Helsinki-Vantaa international airport while trying to leave the country.

Chief police detective Jan Fordell had earlier told The New Paper on Sunday that the arrest was based on a tip-off.

An Asian man had turned up at a police station in Finland to give information about Wilson Raj's fake passport.

Sources said the tip-off could have come from a business rival or someone whom Wilson Raj had owed money to.

Chequered past
1983: Convictions for housebreaking, theft, forgery, cheating and match-fixing; jailed and fined.
1995: Jailed for a year because he gave $3,000 to a football team captain to lose a match in September 1994.
1999: Jailed 16 months for bribing a football referee and 10 months for fleeing legal custody and failure to report a change of address.
2003: Jailed four years on two counts of cheating and applying for two credit cards under false pretences.
2010: Fails to appear for his appeal hearing against his sentence of five years' corrective training for injuring an auxiliary police officer.
2011: Arrested at Finland's Helsinki-Vantaa international airport while trying to leave the country allegedly on a fake passport.

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