Prosecutor wants 11 players held in latest stage of El Salvador matchfix scandal
AIPS / SAN SALVADOR: Arrest warrants have been issued for 11 El Salvador international footballers plus three foreign players and a sports promoter in the ongoing El Salvador matchfix saga.
Associated Press has reported that the state prosecutor issued the warrants over allegations including money laundering and criminal conspiracy.
The Salvadoran players involved, already banned by the local football federation and world governing body FIFA, have been named as Miguel Montes, Dagoberto Portillo, Dennis Alas, Marvin Gonzalez Montiagudo Romeo, Miguel Grenadian, Mordecai Henriquez, Ramon Sanchez, Cristian Castillo, Darwin Bonilla and Osael Romero.
Also sought is the Mali-Singaporean promoter Gaye Alasanne who claimed to represent the Exclusive Sport company as well as Nicaraguans Mauricio Collado and Yaser Arauz, accused of acting as intermediaries to pay players and arrange national team games.
Collado played for professional clubs in the top division but was resident in Nicaragua.
Some of Salvadorans players in question are abroad and the Prosecutor said on Saturday that they will be notified to turn themselves in to the Court.
The three foreigners were working with Singaporean Wilson Raj Perumal, who remains in jail in the Philippines accused of match-fixing in Europe and Asia.
The prosecution said it has documented evidence, such as bank records, plus confessions of players who agreed to fix the results of matches between 2009 and 2013.
Investigations
Prosecutors are also investigating a friendly match against Costa Rica. That meeting was held at the Costa Rican city of Quesada in 2010.
Alasanne paid $ 30,000 in cash to the Salvadoran Football Federation, who deposited the money in the financial system of the country without justifying its origin. The authorities do not have immigration records of more than the $ 10,000 income allowed by law.
Alasanne would have also made an unusual cash payment for all travels and accommodations of the players in Costa Rica and Prosecutor says that money, about $ 45,000, never entered the country legally.
The Salvadoran FA investigated four matches, including the 5-0 defeat to Mexico in the 2011 Gold Cup and a friendly match that El Salvador lost 2-1 with the United States in 2010 in Florida. It banned 14 players for life, two for five years, another one for one year, another for 18 months and four for six months.
The 14 included players now sought by the state prosecutor.
If found guilty they could be sentenced to up to 19 years of jail.
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