Football
ESPN staff 10y

Ding jailed for referee prostitute bribes

Singaporean businessman Eric Ding Si Yang has been jailed for three years after being found guilty of bribing three Lebanese referees to fix a game.

Ding, 32, was sentenced on Thursday for hiring prostitutes for match officials in return for fixing the result of an AFC Cup game; he is expected to appeal both the conviction and the sentence.

FIFA referee Ali Sabbagh last year admitted to having sex with women hired by Ding and was sentenced to six months in prison and handed a lifetime ban from officiating by FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Assistants Ali Eid and Abdallah Taleb were sentenced to three months each, and given 10-year global bans from officiating.

The match in question was an AFC Cup fixture between Singaporean side Tampines Rovers and East Bengal of India in April 2013.

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