After less than a week of freedom, alleged match-fixing kingpin Dan Tan is back in prison.
Dan Tan, also known as Tan Seet Eng, was arrested on Tuesday for “a suspected involvement in criminal activities”, confirmed Singapore police.
The police did not give further details about his arrest and Tan’s lawyers Thong Chee Kun and Hamidul Haq said they were still trying to find the legal basis for the police’s action to re-arrest him.
The arrest followed the Singapore Court of Appeal’s decision to release Tan after more than two years of detention for allegedly match-fixing football games across Europe, Egypt, South Africa, and Nigeria. Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, along with two other judges, ruled that the detention was unlawful and there was nothing to suggest that Tan’s alleged overseas match-fixing activities jeopardized public safety, peace and good order in Singapore.
Dubbed by Interpol as “the leader of the world’s most notorious match-fixing syndicate,” Tan was arrested in 2013 along with 13 other suspects and has been detained without trial under the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act (CLTPA).
“We will carefully consider what needs to be done in the current situation. The Ministry of Home Affairs will study the judgement carefully and assess further steps,” said the Ministry of Home Affairs’ in a statement after the release of Tan last week.
Former Fifa head of security Chris Eaton, now the executive director of Sport Integrity at the International Centre for Sport Security, disagreed with the judge’s perception and in a statement said that Tan has caused enormous damage to the global sport of football.
“In a totally globalized world, where actions in one part of the world can easily impact anywhere else in the world, how quaintly 19th Century and out-of-touch is the reasoning of Singapore Justice Menon in deciding to release Singaporean Dan Tan Seet Eng from custody for international match-fixing of football,” added Eaton.
“Evidence of it abounds internationally. If Singaporean law doesn’t fit a modern world, Singapore must fix it now so that it does, just like Dan Tan fixed football matches.”
Delighted with the arrest, Eaton tweeted on Tuesday, “I hope Dan Tan will be dealt with public investigation & court processes so the realities of the case are open to global scrutiny. I am pleased that the Singapore criminal justice system continues to work assertively on match-fixing investigations and prosecution.”
