The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) to probe suspected match-fixing in soccer tournaments and tainted investments in some football clubs of the country.
Last week, the CBI sought documents from the Delhi-based All India Football Federation (AIFL), under glare for financial misappropriation, on some Indian football clubs, agency sources said.
The agency is looking into the role of an Indian origin Singaporean national who is a global match fixer having been jailed in a couple of countries for rigging soccer matches results, sources said.
It is learnt that the CBI has written to a few football clubs under glare seeking their investment details since the sleuths are looking for linkages with Singapore-based match-fixer’s front companies. At least five clubs that have played India league, including one that has been recently disbanded, are suspected to have got funding from the Singapore-based match fixer who was put behind the bars in Singapore, and has tried to buy over clubs elsewhere and tried to compromise match outcomes in Finland and Hungary as well.
The CBI preliminary inquiry which is prelude to registration of FIR, has added to the controversy that is weighing down the AIFL, as the preliminary report of an audit allegedly reveal large scale siphoning of its funds during the regime of former president Praful Patel. The Congress party leader and former Union Minister Patel was removed recently at the behest of the Supreme Court after he exceeded his tenure limit.