Kluivert in betting probe: report

Former Dutch star Patrick Kluivert, currently director of football at French club Paris St Germain, owed up to one million euros (S$1.5m) to a criminal gang after racking up debts betting on football, a Dutch newspaper reported yesterday.

De Volkskrant said the gang applied threats to pressure Kluivert in order to recoup the debt which he had repaid in part.

The newspaper said investigators had no proof the former player was involved in illegal match-fixing and his lawyer was quoted as saying his client was "only a victim in this affair".

Prosecutors arrested five suspects last month in connection with the affair and Kluivert was called in for questioning, but "purely as a witness", his lawyer Gerard Sprong insisted. - AFP