As a teacher who organised inter-school sports in Lebanon, Fifa-accredited referee Ali Sabbagh earned US$850 (S$1,060) a month.

A mysterious man, known to him only as “James”, turned his head with this offer: Fix football matches for a year, and you will make more money than you would as an AFC (Asian Football Confederation) referee for 10 years.

Sabbagh, 34, first met “James” at a cafe in Beirut last June through Hadi El Kassar, a fellow Lebanese referee.

During this meeting, “James” claimed to run a company which organised international friendly matches.

He said he was prepared to pay officials for their flights, accommodation and expenses at the same rate as Fifa.

They exchanged e-mail addresses and mobile numbers, through which Sabbagh deduced that the man he met was Singaporean.

He was right. “James” was identified in court papers as an alias allegedly used by Eric Ding Si Yang, 31, a Singapore businessman who was also a football tipster with The New Paper from 2006 to last year.

After exchanging several e-mail messages with Ding, Sabbagh realised he was dealing with a match-fixer.

But Ding allegedly reassured him that “he will not be forced to fix any match, and that it would be totally up to him”.

In August last year, Sabbagh finally caved in and agreed to do “jobs” for the Singaporean

He began giving him details of the international matches he was refereeing and the names of the linesmen assisting him.

Ding allegedly made his move in September, asking Sabbagh to “allow at least three goals” for an AFC Cup match between Kuwait SC and Jordan’s Al Wehdat. In return, the referee would get US$5,000. Sabbagh rejected the offer, allegedly earning a rebuke from Ding when the match ended 0-0.

In February this year, Ding allegedly tried his luck again.

This time, Sabbagh informed him that he would be officiating two more AFC Cup matches: the March 6 tie involving Iraq’s Duhok and Yemen’s Al Shab Ibb in Iraq, and the April 3 encounter between Singapore’s Tampines Rovers and India’s East Bengal in Singapore.

A month later, the duo spoke over the phone, where Ding took a keen interest in three AFC Champions League matches that Sabbagh was scheduled to officiate in South Korea, Qatar and Iran.

Ding allegedly said “he expected a lot of goals to be scored” in those matches.

During this conversation, Sabbagh confirmed that two other Lebanese officials – Ali Eid, 33, and Abdallah Taleb, 37 – would be his linesmen for the upcoming match in Singapore.

Ding allegedly wanted to know if all three officials had any requests while in Singapore. Sabbagh replied that he wanted the Singaporean to arrange “free sexual services” for them, in return for fixing an unspecified match in the future.

On April 1, the trio arrived in Singapore to officiate the AFC Cup match.

They stayed at the Amara Hotel, and met Ding the following day at the Subway restaurant next door.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the officials’ preference for the girls they were promised – but it did not last very long.

Suspecting that they were being secretly photographed, the group left abruptly.

But later that night, Sabbagh directed Ding to send over “tall Asian girls”.

Shortly after midnight on April 3, three women were taken to their hotel.

Each of the three Lebanese picked a girl and went back to their rooms. Sabbagh and Eid had intercourse with their respective girls, while Taleb received free services “in the form of a massage to his private parts and masturbation”.

Investigations revealed that the sexual services were priced at $500 each.

Sabbagh and his two linesmen – who were also sports teachers in Lebanon – never got to officiate the AFC Cup match that night.

Just hours after their sexual trysts, they were hauled up by officers from the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau.

Replacement officials for the match were found.

The three men were charged in court on April 4, when they asked for forgiveness and apologised for their actions.

The two linesmen were sentenced yesterday, and Sabbagh will know his fate today – a year after his fateful meeting in Beirut with a man called “James”.

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A Singapore court jailed two Lebanese assistant referees for three months on Monday and postponed passing sentence on a Lebanese referee after all three pleaded guilty to accepting sexual bribes to fix a football match.
Singapore has been the focus of a international probe into football match-fixing, with European anti-crime agency Europol saying in February that hundreds of matches had been fixed in a global betting scam run from the Southeast Asian city-state.
Assistant referees Ali Eid and Abdallah Taleb were jailed for three months, backdated to April 4 when they were detained by police.
Referee Ali Sabbagh will be sentenced on Tuesday.
Prosecutors have asked that Ali Sabbagh be jailed for about six months, saying he was the most culpable, having influenced the two assistants to accept the sexual bribe.
Prosecutors said Ali Sabbagh first made contact with accused Singaporean match fixer Ding Si Yang in June 2012 at a cafe in Beirut. Ding has also been arrested and his case will be heard after the one involving the Lebanese officials.
Ding, who is out on S$150,000 (76,551.95 pounds) bail, has pleaded not guilty to three bribery charges against him – one for each of the Lebanese defendants.
The three Lebanese, all accredited with world football body Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), met Ding on April 2 “to discuss their preference for girls”, the prosecution said.
In the early hours of April 3, they accepted sexual favours from three women hired by Ding in return for influencing a future football match, the prosecutors said.
The three Lebanese had been scheduled to officiate a match between Singapore’s Tampines Rovers and India’s East Bengal on the same day but were hastily replaced hours before kick-off by the Asian Football Federation.
Gary Low, the lawyer defending the three Lebanese, said in mitigation that the “acceptance of the gratification by our clients did not result in any actual football match being fixed”.
The “gratification” was arranged by Ding “with a view to fixing a football match in the future” and his clients were willing to assist Singapore authorities by becoming prosecution witnesses, Low added.
Ali Eid and Abdallah Taleb could be released from prison as early as Monday, as Singapore authorities typically reduce jail sentences by one-third for good behaviour.
The two had faced a possible maximum fine of S$100,000 ($80,900) and a five-year prison term.

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