Lebanese referee jailed over 'match fixing for sex' offer

Lebanese referee Ali Sabbagh A Lebanese football referee has been jailed for offering to fix matches in exchange for sex. Ali Sabbagh, who has been in charge of dozens of international matches - including World Cup qualifiers - was handed a six-month sentence Tuesday.
Sabbagh, 34, along with his two assistant referees, pleaded guilty to rigging games in exchange for sexual favours at a court in Singapore.
On Monday, a district court judge jailed assistant referees Ali Eid, 33, and Abdallah Taleb, 37, for three months.
The assistant referees broke down into sobs and repeatedly looked up as if to thank God when Judge Low Wee Ping said they could be freed by later Monday or Tuesday, after remission for good behaviour and due to time already served awaiting sentence.
Deputy public prosecutor Asoka Markandu described Ali Sabbagh as "the most culpable" among the three as he was the one approached by the syndicate and the one who persuaded the two linesmen to accept the sexual bribe.
The three men were arrested and charged on April 4 with corruption for accepting sexual favours in exchange for agreeing to fix an unspecified football match.
They had been abruptly pulled out of an Asian Football Confederation Cup match they were scheduled to officiate in Singapore on April 3 between Singapore-based club Tampines Rovers and India's East Bengal.
The three were denied bail and have been detained at Singapore's Changi prison since April 4.
Eric Ding Si Yang, 31, a Singaporean businessman who allegedly supplied the prostitutes, has also been charged with corruption and granted bail.
The judge lashed out at the FIFA-accredited referees for bringing disrepute to the sport, saying they were probably the first international football match officials to be charged with corruption in Singapore.
"That alone, the fact that you are international officials, in my view, is already an aggravating factor," he said.
"The Singapore public has an interest in preserving football as a professional sport in Singapore. This is because it has social, recreational and economic value," he added.
Defence lawyer Gary Low cited his clients' previously unblemished records, their guilty plea and the fact that their acceptance of the sexual bribe did not result in any football match being rigged.
"The gratification was arranged by Mr Ding Si Yang with a view to fixing a football match in the future. Our clients did not reach an agreement with Ding to fix a particular football match," Low said.
"In these circumstances, our clients' conduct did not in any way affect or influence the outcome of any football match."
State prosecutors have said Ali Sabbagh, a sports teacher with Lebanon's education ministry earning $850 a month, was approached by Ding in "mid-2012" in Beirut, indicating a "clear international dimension" to the offences.
Ding, described in Singaporean media as a nightclub owner who drives an Aston Martin sports car, is facing three counts of corruption charges but was freed after posting bail of Sg$150,000 ($121,000).
Singapore has a long history of match-fixing, and syndicates from the wealthy Southeast Asian island have been blamed by European police for orchestrating a network responsible for rigging hundreds of games worldwide.