Hawks swoop on Bobby Motaung: the son of Kaizer must fight for his rights

Under pressure: Bobby Motaung

BOBBY MOTAUNG was arrested by the Hawks today. Kaizer Chiefs haven’t had much to say about it, the police refuse to confirm it… but the word is he’s going to be charged with corruption, fraud and possibly more.

For those who live in peculiar Pofadder and no nothing about the world out there, Bobby is a major player in South African football. He is the son of Kaizer Motaung, who founded South Africa’s most popular club in 1972 after a glittering career in the NPSL.

While Kaizer happily played with and against the greats of the world game – Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and George Best – and earned a reputation as a great South African long before Apartheid was assigned to the dustbin, his son Bobby was gifted the job of a lifetime by his father.

Last season, when he was under-fire for the way he does the general manager’s job at Naturena, Bobby famously told us: “I didn’t need a CV for this career. Kaizer Chiefs is a family business. Nothing you can say will worry me. I wasn’t appointed by the ANC.”

I said at the time that attitude stinks – and his father backed me up, apologising for his son’s behaviour. I suggested Bobby’s youngest brother Kaizer Junior would be a better figurehead, or his sister Jessica, currently the club’s marketing manager.

But Bobby carried on serenely, signing players, doing deals, insisting Tower Mathoho should go from Bloemfontein Celtic to the Amakhosi, even though they were offering half of what Mamelodi Sundowns were prepared to pay.

There was that difficult time pre-season, when the Motaungs were in mourning for a family member and Bobby left Jessica to present his new signings. In a hurried affair timed to coincide with the arrival of new coach Stuart Baxter, they presented seven new players including Kingston Nkatha, who was still under contract at Leopards and, famously, the No3 shirt which they hoped Tower would one day wear. It was a farce.

And in their opening competitive game of the season, both Bobby and Baxter – who lied on his CV and was clearly the cheap, malleable choice – were holding their heads in their hands as Chiefs went 4-0 down against Sundowns in just 37 minutes on the way to a drubbing.

Of course, they went on to record a rousing 6-0 win over AmaZulu in their opening PSL clash last Saturday but it’s possible to see that result as a simple papering over of the cracks at the AmaKhosi.

The Hawks are refusing tonight to confirm the identities of the “two prominent people” arrested on theft and forgery charges “related to the construction of the R1 billion Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit in Mpumalanga.

Ironically, I’m about half-an-hour from the giraffe-adorned stadium at Mjejane River Lodge enjoying the wild life. I didn’t expect the big game to be hunted down quite so close to here. Understandably, Hawks Spokesperson McIntosh Polela “can neither confirm nor deny” that Bobby Motaung was picked up this morning.

But I can confirm Bobby is due to appear in court, one of THREE men who, according to Polela, are due to appear in court tomorrow.

Polela told the SABC: "It's regarding the alleged fraud forging of a South African Revenue Services (SARS) document to apply for a tender contract to work in relation to the Mbombela stadium. What happened is that the Hawks as well as SARS have arrested a person in Naturena as well as Cape Town and we are currently looking for a third person."

The fabulous Mbombela Stadium, built in the footballing wilderness just south of the Kruger Park on the road to Mocambinque, might have been better of had it been designed with white elephants rather than giraffes as a support structure.

And few need reminding that the Mbombela Local Municipality's speaker, Jimmy Mohlala, was gunned down at his home in Kanyamazane in 2009, after threatening to blow the whistle on the alleged corruption related to the tender and construction of the stadium.

I know nothing of such goings-on. Only that Bobby was warned he wasn’t above the rules of ordinary men. He may be the son of Kaizer, but from where I stand, he was never fit to lace the great man’s boots.

How fair is football: Match fixer was working within a mile of Wembley

Individuals from SIX national football associations are being investigated after a convicted match-fixer was found operating from a base near Wembley Stadium.

Wilson Raj Perumal, from Singapore, has been probed by Interpol and FIFA over his ability to influence the results of international and club matches around the world over the past three years.

The Daily Telegraph reports Perumal, arrested in Finland in February, had been working within a mile of the “home of football” in London, where the Champions League final will take place between Barcelona and Manchester United on May 28.

Fifa’s head of security Chris Eaton, a former Interpol operative said: “England is the home of football and London is a global financial centre so it does not surprise me that the financial aspects of this activity lead to London.

“The threat from match-fixing to the integrity of the global game is significant.

“Interviews with those involved have told us that that fixers can spend upwards of $300,000 (£182,000) to stage a friendly international and they do that with the expectation of a significant profit margin. Our information is that we are talking about tens of millions of dollars in profit from each successful fix.”

In 2009, Perumal was named as having arranged a number of games played by Zimbabwe in south-east Asia, some of which the Zimbabwe FA believe were fixed.

He was also behind the international friendly between Bahrain and “Togo” last year when the African side lost 3-0... and turned out to be a band of disparate players rather than the Togan national squad (pictured above).

Perumal is currently on remand in Finland after being arrested on February 25. He was picked up by immigration officers but is now under investigation for his involvement in alleged match-fixing in the Finnish domestic league.

FIFA and Interpol are believed to have evidence casting doubt over the result of nearly 300 matches over the past three years with referees being influenced by payments of £6,000 (R66,000) with Perumal’s men then allegedly tipping off gamblers in the Asian betting syndicates.

The London base provides “cover for the flow of funds through legal and illegal channels” according to the Paul Kelso’s special report in the Telegraph yesterday.

The FIFA under-17 and under-20 World Cups, due to be held during the summer in central America, could both be influenced.

Eaton added: “We have admissions from those we are focusing on that they have been planning to target younger players at the under-17 and under-20 level.

“That is enough to make me concerned that we need to put preventative measures in place.”

The Fifa investigation centres on Raj Perumal, who until February operated from a flat in a new apartment block in the Wembley City development, within sight of the distinctive arch of the national stadium.

Perumal, convicted for match-fixing in 1995, has also been found guilty of “theft and violence” in Singapore – he fled there in July last year after he was sentenced to five years’ “corrective training” in jail for driving his car over a police officer.

He is being held in Finland on suspicion of bribing players to fix matches and in connection with an attempt to pay $300,000 to a Finnish club. Eleven players have been arrested and face charges.

Perumal’s flat, in the Quadrant Court development at Wembley, was raided by officers from the Metropolitan Police in March following a request from the Finnish police.

The flat was empty when police raided it. Chandra Ratna, an associate of Perumal, told The Daily Telegraph that he had been asked to clear the flat by Perumal and said that he had thrown its contents away.

Telephone records seized by Finnish police are understood to reveal that Perumal has a “wide network” of contacts in world football – including 60 listed contacts in the UK including current and former international players.

High on the list of suspicious games are two internationals held in the Turkish resort of Antalya.

All seven goals in the games between Bolivia and Latvia, and Estonia and Bulgaria, were penalties with betting patterns indicating a “fix”.

Six officials – three from Hungary and three from Bosnia - have been banned for life.

Both games were set up by Perumal’s compatriot, Anthony Santia Raj.

As Perumal languishes in Finland, Germany is preparing for sentencing in their largest ever match-fixing trial.

Ante Sapina, a Croatian jailed for bribing a German referee in 2006, is one of seven defendants charged with fixing 47 matches including games in several European leagues, the qualifying rounds of the Champions League and a World Cup qualifier.

He is expected to receive a sentence of around six years.