Football trial told of links with betting syndicate

A businessman said to be the representative of a Far Eastern syndicate betting on the outcome of "fixed" Premier League games received information on soccer matches from well-known footballers, a court was told yesterday.

Heng Suan Lim, 31, one of four defendants in the football match-rigging trial, said his informants were the former Wimbledon players John Fashanu, and Hans Segers, and the former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar - his co-accused - and Mr Fashanu's business associate, Glyn Mason.

Asked by his counsel, Jerome Lynch, whom he would call with information, Mr Lim said it was a man called Johannes Josef, or one of his close friends in Indonesia.

Mr Lim , from north London, was giving evidence at Winchester Crown Court where he and the three footballers deny being involved in fixing football matches for an Indonesian betting syndicate.

He was questioned about his relationship with Mr Josef, who by 1989 was paying him pounds 1,000 a month. Mr Josef is alleged to have been the paymaster for the fixing of matches.

Mr Josef, a family friend he called "uncle", suggested that he could give him information on football in England. Mr Lim agreed to provide information. There was no agreement for additional payments, but if Mr Josef made money on the forecasts he might send extra cash.

Mr Lim said numbers he had written in a Football League handbook against First Division teams in 1992 were a handicap system used in forecasting. These were based on odds from bookmakers and current form.

He would discuss his predictions when Mr Josef telephoned from Indonesia.

Sometimes he would advise against betting on a particular game because of better information he had received.

Mr Lim - who was once a footballer in Malaysia, where he was nicknamed "Richard the Lionheart"- was said to have marked the names of referees on a football publication with single or double ticks but denied approaching any of them.

Mr Lim also said he had received two letters in 1987 from a Mr Ong in Malaysia, one of which asked him to mix with a team he thought was "possible".

The letter went on: "Before doing anything, don't make any promises to the players, just make friends and talk about football, and you must be careful."

Asked what it meant, Mr Lim, who was born in Malaysia and came to Britain in 1986, said it meant he was to mix with players and get "inside information".

Asked if he thought this meant anything illegal, Mr Lim replied: "Absolutely not."

The trial continues.