How Harambee Stars was match-fixers’ bedroom’

Shocking details have emerged of how easy it was for strangers to access Harambee Stars’ team hotel while abroad for assignments, some of which are now under investigation by the world football governing body, Fifa, Standard Sports can reveal.

Fifa is already investigating former defender George ‘Wise’ Owino for possible cheating having established he was in constant communication with notorious match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal.

Relying on 177 email exchanges between the Kenyan and Perumal, a preliminary report by Fifa concludes that “it appears Owino participated in the conspiracy to manipulate the results of international matches involving the Kenya National Team during the period of June 2009 and March 2011.”

Speaking to Standard Sports on condition of anonymity, some senior Harambee Stars players at the time admitted seeing “strangers of Asian extraction come in and out of the team hotel.”

“In Tunisia, for instance, they had access to the team hotel including some players’ rooms,” the former player said.

“I saw two of them and wondered how they confidently walked into the players’ rooms. At first, it did not occur to me anyone could have been planning anything sinister,” he said.

$90,000-fix

Kenya, then coached by German Antoine Hey, were in Tunisia for a World Cup qualifier against Carthage Eagles on October 11, 2009.

According to an email Fifa cites, Perumal wrote to Owino on October 1, 2009 thus: “I want 1-0 in the 1st half and 3-0 in the 2nd half. 1st goal in 1st half should come after 25 mins and in the 2nd half the goal must come after 55 mins 2-0 and after 70mins 3-0.” Owino and his three co-conspirators were to pocket $90,000 for the fix.

Tunisia won 1-0 via an Issam Jemâa first minute goal.

Assistant coach at the time, Twahir Muhiddin, recalls seeing a Nigerian, who said he was based in London. “He promised the boys a lot money to beat Tunisia, but later I told the boys we owe nobody nothing. How the Nigerian got into the team hotel I don’t know,” Muhiddin said yesterday.

Bizarre Kuwait game

Reflecting on Fifa’s preliminary investigation report on Owino, an active Harambee Stars player said yesterday that “a bizarre decision by the coach to send out of the dressing room players not in the starting line up in a friendly match against Kuwait in Egypt (November 3, 2009), now makes sense.”

“I found it funny,” the player said.

“It doesn’t happen anywhere. Once the coach names his first eleven the rest stay there for team tactics and strategy.

“We lost 5-0 to Kuwait with the coach fielding one of our right-footed midfielder as a left-back. It was a joke. I was also in Tunisia for the said match and it wouldn’t surprise me, therefore, that we may have stabbed ourselves in the back in Tunis.”

Former Harambee Stars striker Boniface Ambani said he was yet to come to terms with reports his then teammate, Owino, who he described as quiet yet friendly, was under investigation.

“I have tried raising him, but his phone is off. I honestly need answers. He was one of the best defenders I have played alongside and against. We always filed out with a single mind to win games and to date FKF still owes us match allowances then this happens? I am hurt beyond words,” Ambani said.

In the 10-page report, Fifa concludes that, “the evidence appears to show how Mr Owino, a player of the Kenya National Team at the material time in question, became a trusted collaborator and intermediary of a professional match-fixer Mr Perumal.”

Former Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Sam Nyamweya has called on the country’s national security to investigate claims of match fixing.

“This is a matter of grave concern and must be taken up by the national security apparatus because match-fixing is a vicious cycle that involves international racketeers.

Ministry of Interior

“It is my belief that the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National government will instruct all national security agencies to actively take up the matter in conjunction with Interpol and Fifa to ensure this international racket does not operate in Kenya.

“FKF has no choice, but to urgently, with the guidance of the Fifa Ethics Chamber, embark on the process of coming up with a policy and guidelines on the involvement of bookmakers and sports betting companies in Kenyan football,” he said.

FKF president Nick Mwendwa, who is in France, said: “We assure you that all legal procedures will be adhered to accordingly to ensure that the truth is found and the culprits are brought to book.”