Скачать или смотреть Eric Ding linked to suspected match fixing kingpin Dan Tan in trial - 31Oct2013

SINGAPORE: The trial of alleged matchfixer Eric Ding resumed on Thursday, as state prosecutors sought to link him with suspected match-fixing mastermind Dan Tan.

Ding is accused of bribing three Lebanese match officials scheduled to take charge of a football game in Singapore in April.

Three witnesses took the stand on Thursday.

Two of them were Ding's ex-colleagues at The New Paper (TNP) -- editor Dominic Nathan, and a former sub-editor at the newspaper, Stanley Ho.

Ding had met Mr Ho when they were both working for the TODAY newspaper in 2003.

Ding went on become a freelance tipster at TNP, where he was reacquainted with Mr Ho, who is now an executive sub-editor with The Straits Times.

Mr Ho said Ding had given him tip-offs on match-fixing stories, including the arrest of convicted match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal in Finland.

Raj had earlier accused Dan Tan of being a ringleader of a Singapore match-fixing syndicate, which was reported by TNP.

Ding had said TNP's coverage was "one-sided" and then volunteered an "associate" of Tan's to provide more information to Mr Ho.

But Mr Ho said it had been suggested that the "associate" was actually Ding himself, using the moniker "James Zen" in email correspondence.

Ding's defence lawyers described him as an aspiring investigative journalist who had won awards for several articles he had written before.

Ding had won awards for articles on match-fixing that he had written as an intern at TODAY, and as a writer at a weekly football magazine.

Ding had also suggested to Mr Ho that he may write a book about match-fixing.

He said the content would be "explosive", given how much he knew about the topic.

It also emerged in court that Mr Ho and Ding were close personal friends, who exchanged emails on match-fixing issues frequently.

Ding last spoke to Mr Ho last month to tell him that Tan was among 14 arrested for alleged match-fixing that month.

The trial continues.

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