Lankan businessman jailed in UK over football match-fixing plot

A footballer and two Asian businessmen including a Sri Lankan have been jailed for plotting to fix the results of English lower league matches.

Michael Boateng, 22, was found guilty along with businessmen Chann Sankaran and Krishna Ganeshan of conspiracy to commit bribery following a four-week trial at Birmingham crown court. Singaporean Sankaran, 34, and Sri Lankan-born Ganeshan, 44, labelled in court as "the controlling minds" behind efforts to influence the outcome of matches in League Two and the Conference South, were jailed for five years each.

Boateng, a former defender with Conference South club Whitehawk FC, was sentenced to 16 months for his role in the plot.

Sentencing the trio, Judge Melbourne Inman QC said: "Professional football and sport play an important part in national life and individuals' lives in this country.

"Those who make determined attempts to destroy its integrity for personal gain must expect significant prison sentences so when such acts are discovered a clear signal is sent to others."

The judge told Sankaran he would be liable to deportation back to his home country once he had served his sentence, but it would be a matter for the home secretary.

He told the co-conspirators that their scheme was laid bare by surveillance and covertly recorded conversations following an investigation initially by the Daily Telegraph and later the National Crime Agency.

To Ganeshan and Sankaran, he said: "I am satisfied you were at the head of this conspiracy; you two were the controlling minds."The two of you came to this country in November last year for the sole reason of visiting clubs to find players you could corrupt to fix matches."He said they had clearly targeted lower division football clubs because the cost of bribing the players "on their modest wages" was cheaper than approaching players from the higher leagues.

Courtesy: The Guardian