3 suspects in match-fixing racket arraigned

Three suspects arrested trying to fix a Football Kenya Federation Premier League(FKF-PL) match were arraigned on Monday to answer to charges of conspiracy to cause a felony.

The three; Russian Akhiad Kubiev, Ugandan Bernard Navendi and Kenyan Martin Mutua, appeared before the Makadara Law Courts accused of conspiring to commit a felony, namely cheating, an act which is considered a match fixing in a football game in any part of the world.

The prosecution stated that on 10th March, 2023, at Roysambu area within Kasarani Sub-county in Nairobi County, by fraudulent trick the accused jointly with others not before the court conspired to induce Samson Otieno, the team manager of City Stars, with Ksh.1.9 million to fix a football match pitting City Stars FC versus Sofapaka FC at the Ruaraka Stadium.

The accused denied the charges.

The defence lawyers deposited in the court the first accussed Kubiev’s Russian passport, as well as a letter from the Russian consulate in Nairobi stating that the accused is in the country legally.

They also deposited the Uganda national identitiy card of Navendi stating that they were not flight risks.

“I have noted the first and second accused are not Kenyans though nothing has been produced to show they are flight risks…and I find that a bond of 300,000 and two Kenyan sureties, similar amounts,” the court ruled.

The case will be mentioned on April 3 and the hearing is set for July 17.

Nairobi City Stars CEO Patrick Korir, team mamager Samson Otieno and the whistle-blower, footballer Festo Omukoto spent the better part of Sunday afternoon at the Kasarani DCI recording statements.

The case has also been taken up by Interpol who are interested to know exactly what transpired on Friday night.

The accused persons approached Nairobi City Stars to fix their match against Sofapaka on Saturday with clear instructions on how to lose the match in exchange for Ksh.1.9 million.

City Stars laid a trap and the three were arrested in Roysambu. Omukoto who was approached by the fixers says communication started on Facebook, Instagram and Telegram.

“Waliniuliza kama naweza wasaidia city stars kufanya nao business ya match fixing kwa games. walitaka nikuwe wa kumeet teams wanatarget, nawapea all information wanataka halafu baada ya biashara ndio tuongee,” he said.

Omukoto was an easy target because he was involved in the vice before and got a four-year ban. He has since reformed and is now a brand ambassador for Kenya Footballers’ Welfare Association. He is well known to the fixers.

“Kuna moja ako, huyu mrussia ndiye aliniweka kwa ile noma ilikuwa ya kwanza. obviously sikutaka irepeat tena,” he added.

The targeteed game for match fixing went ahead without incident and ended in a 1-1 draw at the Ruaraka Stadium on Saturday afternoon.