Tan detained in S’pore

Singapore, December 5

A Singaporean accused of leading the world’s largest football match-fixing syndicate was ordered to be detained without trial today under a special law following his rearrest earlier this week, the interior ministry said.

Dan Tan, 51, will be held under a special law designed to keep suspected criminals under detention without having to charge them in court, the Ministry of Home Affairs said. “The MHA confirmed that the Minister for Home Affairs has issued a detention order in respect of Dan Tan Seet Eng on 5 Dec 2015 for his involvement in global soccer match-fixing,” the statement said.

However, the detention is subject to an annual review. Tan had been held for more than two years under the same law following his arrest in September 2013 but the Court of Appeal, the country’s highest court, ordered his release in late November, saying his detention had been “unlawful”.

His release came under heavy criticism from football’s world governing body FIFA and analysts who said the move was a blow to efforts to eradicate corruption in the sport. Police, however, rearrested Tan about a week after he was freed to investigate his “suspected involvement in criminal activities”.

The home affairs ministry said on Saturday that the new order to detain Tan “expressly sets out the grounds which show the extent of Dan Tan’s match-fixing activities from and within Singapore”.

After Tan’s first arrest in 2013, the then-Interpol chief Ronald Noble said he allegedly led was the world’s “largest and most aggressive match-fixing syndicate”.