Footballer admits offering bribe over match-fixing

2010-5-7

A football player, charged by the ICAC, admitted at Kowloon City Magistracy today (Friday) that he had offered a bribe to another footballer for his assistance in fixing a match.

Yu Yang, 27, a former player of Happy Valley Football Club (Happy Valley), pleaded guilty to one count of offering an advantage to an agent, contrary to Section 9(2) of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance.

Magistrate Mr Anthony Kwok Kai-on adjourned the case until May 20, 2010 for mention. The defendant was remanded in the ICAC custody.

The court heard that at the time of the offence, the defendant was a football player of Happy Valley, which was one of the football teams participating in the First Division Football League organised by the Hong Kong Football Association. Fourway Rangers Football Club (Fourway Rangers) was another team of the league.

Prior to joining Happy Valley, the defendant was a football player of Fourway Rangers. At that time, Jean Jacques Kilama, a Cameroon football player, was his teammate.

The court heard in the morning of October 3, 2009, the defendant visited Kilama at the latter’s quarters.

The defendant requested Kilama to deliberately lose the match between Happy Valley and Fourway Rangers in that afternoon.

The defendant inputted a few sentences in Chinese into a portable computer for translation into French, the mother tongue of Kilama, so that Kilama understood his request.

The defendant then asked Kilama the amount of money he wanted. But Kilama turned down his request.

In the match, the defendant and Kilama were players. Eventually, Happy Valley lost to Fourway Rangers by 0:2.

The defendant was arrested on May 5, 2010. When interviewed under caution by ICAC officers, the defendant admitted the offence, the court was told.

The prosecution was today represented by ICAC officers Torres Leung and Henry Lung.
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