KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTING —- If today’s verdict of a six-year ban on Lindile ‘Ace’ Kika by the FIFA ethics committee is the only outcome from the South African matchfix scandal then it is poor reward for a lengthy, complex and politically-sensitive investigation. Hopefully there is more to come.

A statement from the adjudicatory chamber, chaired by German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, said the punishment was imposed “in relation to several international friendly matches played in South Africa in 2010.”

That, in line with the restrictive controls on the ethics committee, was all it could say about investigations into a corruption scandal on the eve of the 2010 World Cup finals. Mastermind was the notorious Wilson Raj Perumal on behalf of an Asian betting syndicate. Kika, who had been SAFA’s head of national teams at the time, has always denied wrongdoing.

Referee Chaibou (left), Perumal (top) and Kika (below)

The matches concerned were World Cup warm-up games for the host nation’s national teams. They involved Thailand, Bulgaria, Colombia and Guatemala and were refereed by African officials contracted by an agency called Football 4U International. This was a front for Perumal.

South Africa’s 4-0 win over Thailand and 2-1 win over Colombia, in which all three goals came from penalties, were refereed by a Kenyan. A match against Bulgaria was officiated by a Togolese referee.

Chaibou the cheat

A 5-0 win over Guatemala saw Niger referee Ibrahim Chaibou award three penalties for handball. Perumal later told media that Chaibou was his “favourite” official.

Chaibou was also nominated for South Africa’s final World Cup warm-up, against Denmark, but was replaced in the tunnel just before the team ran out because some other SAFA officials had become suspicious.

Administrative concern about the games did not emerge until almost two years later, in February 2012. Then former SAFA chief executive Leslie Sedibe, when pressed, said he had delegated responsibility to Kika for liaison with Football 4U International.

Kika denied this. At the time he said: “These guys (Perumal and Football 4U) approached us about a referees exchange programme. I thought it was a good opportunity for our local referees to interact with other internationals. I did not speak to them, but Leslie did. They never met with me.”

Further, Kika said that Steve Goddard, a former SAFA head of referees, and successor Adele Carelse undertook background checks on the referees. He added: “The referees’ names were on the FIFA list and that was confirmation for us that they could be trusted. However, their performances were below par and so we changed for the last game against Denmark.”

In March 2012 an inquiry was launched by the then FIFA security head Chris Eaton.

In December his 500-page report described “compelling evidence” that the matches had been fixed and SAFA imposed provisional suspensions on Kika, SAFA president Kirsten Nematandani, ceo Dennis Mumble, Carelse and new head of national teams Barney Kujane.

The report said Perumal had offered to arrange, and pay for, the friendlies as well as provide referees. The referees fixed the matches, according to the FIFA report, making dubious decisions on offsides and penalties. For SAFA to have delegated such match arrangements to an outside agency was a breach of regulations in itself.

Political interference

South Africa’s government promised its own judicial commission of inquiry but FIFA objected that this implied government interference. After a lengthy stand-off FIFA’s then ethics prosecutor Michael Garcia activated his own investigation in November 2013. Precisely a year later proceedings were opened which led to the ban on Kika with more, hopefully, in the pipeline.

As for Chaibou, he continued refereeing into 2011 after retired only after his controversial handling of a friendly between Nigeria and Argentina in Abuja.

Nigeria were leading 4-0 at the end of the regulation 90 minutes. Chaibou added a standard four minutes of stoppage time but then kept the game going. In the 98th minute he awarded a penalty to Argentina for a non-existent handball. The final score was thus 4-1.

Later analysis of betting patterns by FIFA revealed a surge in bets for a fifth goal.

Chaibou has never been charged with any offence and is now, to all intents and purposes, beyond reach.

Perumal has been linked – among many other scams on behalf of Asian betting syndicates – with a major fixing scandal in Finland club football as well as a fake Togo team which played in Bahrain. The Zimbabwe Football Association also identified him in its own 160-page report into alleged match-fixing on their national team tours to Asia from 2007-09.

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