NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 14 – Three match fixing suspects arrested last Friday in Roysambu, a Russian, a Ugandan and a Kenyan, have been released on a Sh300,000 bond and sureties of the same after appearing in court yesterday.
The three, Russian national Akhiad Kubiev, Ugandan Bernard Nabende and Kenyan Martin Munga Mutua appeared at the Makadara Law Courts on Monday, where they denied charges of conspiracy to commit a felony contrary to section 393 of the penal code and cheating contrary to section 315 of the penal code.
“You jointly conspired with others not before court by inducing Samson Otieno Aloo, the team manager of City Stars to deliver football match fixing of the City Stars versus Sofapaka game which would be played at Ruaraka on 11 march 2023 by promising to pay him 14,000 USD at the end of the match, an act which would influence the result of the game,” the charge sheet read.
They were arrested on Friday as they met with players and officials of Nairobi City Stars, allegedly to fix their FKF Premier League match against Sofapaka played on Saturday.
Police acted on a tip off from former Kakamega Homeboyz midfielder Festo Omukoto and Nairobi City Stars CEO Patrick Korir.
Omukoto, himself serving a match fixing ban and now an ambassador of the Kenya Footballers Welfare Association (KEFWA) had been approached by the fixers to get him into contact with City Stars players to fix their game against Sofapaka on Saturday.
Omukoto then contacted City Stars CEO Patrick Korir, and the latter hatched a scheme with police officers to nab the fixers and they were arrested in Roysambu.
“According to their plan, they wanted us to concede one goal early in the game and two more after 75 minutes. If we were to score, we had to make sure we concede two. They wanted seven players; a goalkeeper, midfielders and defenders to execute the plan,” Korir told Capital Sport.
Football Kenya Federation had earlier on sent a statement, saying they were following the case and working with authorities and would not make any further comment.
Match fixing has been rampant in the FKF Premier League over the last few years especially with fixers targeting clubs who are struggling to pay their players.
Early February, Mathare United suspended two senior players; Alphonse Ndonye and Lennox Ogutu over the same and since then, the team has been posting good results.
“The vice is very very deep in Kenyan football and sadly it also involves referees at large,” Korir stated, citing the case in their match against Bandari early January where they conceded a late goal off a suspicious penalty.
The referee involved was since suspended.
