Charged with receiving sexual bribes, officials replaced prior to East Bengal's AFC Cup match

According to Reuters, three Lebanese officials were replaced before East Bengal’s AFC cup match with Tampines Rovers for being charged with receiving sexual bribes to fix an AFC cup match in Singapore. Referee Ali Sabbagh and asst. referees Ali Eid and Abdallah Taleb were taken to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) instead and later were presented before the Singapore court.

CPBI stated, “Ali Sabbagh, Ali Eid and Abdallah Taleb were produced in court, each with a charge of one count of corruptly receiving gratification, in the form of free sexual service,”

“Singapore has always adopted a zero tolerance approach towards corruption and match fixing of any form is not condoned in Singapore,” the statement also read.

“The Bureau works closely with the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and the authorities to keep the local soccer scene clean,” it added.

In February, Europol had stated that hundreds of soccer matches had been fixed in a global betting scam run from Singapore. They identified 680 suspicious matches, including qualifying games for the World Cup and European Championship.