A Singaporean match-fixer, Wilson Raj Perumal, is in the news after claiming that he fixed a match that ensured that Super Eagles qualified for the 2010 World Cup hosted by South Africa. The allegation was, however, promptly dismissed by Alhaji Sani Lulu, who as President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) at the time of the purported match fixing ensured the Super Eagles’ qualification for the championship.

The Guardian of London had reported Perumal, a self-confessed match-fixer, as claiming in a new book that he assisted Honduras and Nigeria in reaching the World Cup through his activities.

But Lulu told Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper: “There was no match that the Super Eagles played that I was not aware of its organisation. If he (Perumal) did anything, I am not aware.

“What I know is that we qualified because we worked hard.”

The former NFF boss challenged the Singaporean to show proof of his claim, saying: “Let him bring out evidence of any transaction he had with the NFF if any. No government agency could have done anything of the sort without the consent of the NFF. Let him bring evidence of the transaction he had with anybody.

Lulu said, “I followed due process in everything. We did and the three friendly matches we had before the World Cup were against Austria in Saudi Arabia, played against Columbia in London and finally against Korea in South Africa before the World Cup. In fact we paid Columbia $100,000 because we needed the match dearly.

“In all the cases, we never met anybody called Wilson Raj Perumal. I don’t know him.”

A notorious match fixer, Perumal previously got into trouble after admitting to being part of a syndicate that fixed a string of international friendlies by bribing corrupt officials and compromised players, but this is the first time that he has claimed to have influenced World Cup qualifiers.

Perumal was arrested in Helsinki in 2011 and sentenced to two years in prison. He agreed to co-operate with the authorities and implicated his fellow Singaporean Dan Tan, alleged to be at the heart of the fixing and gambling ring that placed bets on illicit Chinese markets.

These allegations are contained in a book written by him.

Perumal’s book, written in conjunction with the investigative journalists Alessandro Righi and Emanuele Piano, details the huge sums of money he won and lost and the huge reach of the match-fixing syndicate.

He claims that in 2009 he set up a company called Football4U as a front to influence football players and officials. He claims he used an associate called Bee Hoon to “make things happen” and ensure Honduras won a match to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa.

Although he never placed a bet on the match, because Bee Hoon wagered $200,000 of his own money and brought the odds down, he says his influence helped ensure a win for Honduras, who remained unaware of his intervention.

He then details a meeting with a football official in which he promises to help Nigeria qualify for the World Cup in return for free rein in organising three warm-up matches and a cut of the money FIFA provides for hosting a training camp during the tournament. First, he claims to influence three players on his payroll to help Nigeria to victory in one of its qualifiers. Then he claims to have promised the Mozambique FA a $100,000 bonus if they were able to hold Tunisia to a draw and so stop Tunisia leapfrogging Nigeria and seizing automatic qualification. Mozambique secured an unlikely 1-0 victory.

“My plan had worked and I was the unsung hero of Nigeria’s qualification to the final rounds of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa,” writes Perumal. “Ferrying Nigeria and Honduras to the World Cup was a personal achievement. ‘Fuck,’ I considered. ‘I got two teams to qualify for the World Cup but I cannot tell anyone.’”

He also claims to have attempted unsuccessfully to bribe referees at the World Cup itself. Perumal, who served a year of his sentence in Finland after promising to co-operate with the authorities, claims to have had a hand in or profited from fixed matches all over the globe, from Latin America to Serie A.

They included two occasions on which he is alleged to have arranged for bogus African teams to play official friendlies and deliver the required result.

Perumal was rearrested last week in Finland on an international arrest warrant. The arrest is believed to relate to an earlier conviction in Singapore, rather than to match-fixing.

•Photo shows former NFF President Sani Lulu.

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