On Sunday 4th July, Bandari hosted Nairobi City Stars in a Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKFPL) match at the Mbaraki Stadium in Mombasa.The game was set to kick off at 3 PM EAT. At 12:05 PM, renowned match-fixer Chann Sankaran, who has been adversely mentioned in previous match manipulation cases in Kenya, sent a WhatsApp message to Collins Opiyo, who was the reserve referee, asking him to “Give him something..”Below is how the exchange on WhatsApp between the two went down.Chann: Hello. Give me something …Collins Opiyo: Game is at 3PM..Chann: What can you do? First half city win full time bandari win. Can or not?Collins Opiyo: 3 goals …Chann: It’s good. But first half 1 goal city…Collins Opiyo: Yes 3 goals please..Chann: And second half Bandari win. Or we can do 4 goal. I can pay you 1000 (USD), sure money. How you see? But don’t make me loss. Call me.” Collins Opiyo: I can’t talk many people here.” Chann: I am trusting you like my brotherCollins Opiyo: Thanks sirChann: I have confirmed the bet already 3.5 over please don’t disappoint me. 1000 tomorrow will be in your PayPal. Can I place the bet now? Collins Opiyo: YesChann: OkCollins Opiyo: Today send something so that I can pay my assistant pleaseChann: Ok I will, after the result check your PayPal. Collins Opiyo: OkChann: Clear the job soonCollins Opiyo: I willChann: Goodluck (winking emoji). Bet is done. Call me at halftime and at fulltimeCollins Opiyo: Ok sir relaxChann: Please don’t fail me, I am getting worriedCollins Opiyo: Ok Chann: Clear it soon. This is my last money. I gave prepared someone to send you 1000USD immediately after the gameCollins Opiyo: Ok sirChann: Sure you do it. Without 4 goals, don’t stop the game! What I said, I keep my word so keep what you said. Give a penalty so the game will be openCollins Opiyo: OkThe game however did not go as planned as it ended 1-1 and not with over 3 goals as Chann had instructed Collins and the former was infuriated after the game, deservedly so as he had lost his money. He threatened to blow Collins cover, and he eventually did.“I have really tried. I even added 7 minutes. I’m ready to take the blame. I am really sorry.” Collins texted Chann some minutes after the game.Chann could take none of it as he immediately sent screenshots of his conversations with Collins to me, posing as a reformed match-fixer who is ready to clean the game. He wanted me to immediately write a hard-hitting article, which I could not do without authenticating the veracity of the chats.I sent the chats to the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Integrity Department and asked them to investigate the matter. Chann was however so mad that he also sent an email straight to the federation.“Hi I’m Chann Sankaran. One of your referees was involved in match-fixing in the Kenyan Premier League. I have the evidence for today’s game – Bandari vs Nairobi City Stars, the center referee his name is Collins. I have all the chats of fixing the match. You need to take disciplinary action – he has been receiving money from me.” This was not the first time Chann had manipulated matches by using Collins Opiyo as evidenced by their PayPal transactions.Between 10th December 2020 and 29th April 2021, Collins had received a total of USD 360.95, around Ksh 39,000 from Chann to fix various matches in the FKFPL.Chann has been a runner (someone who does errands for a kingpin) for renowned match-fixers in Asia, mainly Singapore who are known for manipulating matches worldwide. After falling off with these dons, he resorted to doing some small-time fixing all by himself as he had already established contacts with Kenyan referees and players.Immediately after I sent the conversations from Chann and asked the FKF Integrity Department to investigate Collins, he was suspended from officiating league matches as the investigation commenced.He was among the five match officials that FKF suspended provisionally last week ahead of a final ruling by the Disciplinary Committee.FKF takes action against five suspected referees fixing gamesExperienced referee Japheth Juma was also nabbed by the FKF Integrity Department. He was at fault for this weird call in the Vihiga vs Nzoia Sugar game.
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According to a reliable source, referees Samuel Mwaura and Raymond Onyango, who were also provisionally suspended by the federation, are suspected master minders of the web of Kenyan referees who are involved in match manipulation in the Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKFPL).George Onyango, a Vihiga Bullets player whose conversations with another player he was allegedly trying to recruit into match-fixing, is also facing a potential ban from the game.Cases of match-fixing in the National Super League (NSL) and the FKFPL have been on the rise in recent years. This came to the limelight in early 2019 when FIFA banned and fined former Kenyan International George “Wise” Ochieng for his involvement in manipulating matches. Festus Okiring, Festo Omukoto and Moses Chikati were also handed 4-year bans by FIFA while George Mandela was banned for life early last year.Sofapaka and the now-defunct Sony Sugar FC also fell prey to an international web of clever match-fixers, Living 3D Holdings and Quantdragon Limited, who came into the clubs as sponsors in 2019 when the two teams were going through financial difficulties. The cover was eventually blown after a few months but the damage was already done.Most recently, FIFA relegated Zoo FC from the FKFPL to the second-tier after alleged involvement in match-fixing.
