Three footballers and betting agent charged for bribes and match-fixing

Three footballers and a betting agent were charged by ICAC on Thursday for allegedly bribing players to rig the results of a number of matches involving three local clubs participating in the Hong Kong Premier League and the First Division league between 2021 and 2023. 

This came after ICAC smashed a corruption syndicate in connection with football match-fixing and illegal gambling during Operation Green Grass in May last year. 

The four are Nigerian-born center-back Brian Fok, 29, who had played for Hong Kong Football Club and Happy Valley Athletic Association; Luciano Silva da Silva, 36, Brazilian center-back for Central and Western District Recreation and Sports Association; To Chun-kiu, 29, then goalkeeper of Sham Shui Po Sports Association; and betting agent Waheed Mohammad, 27. 

Fok faces three counts of offering an advantage to an agent, while he and the other three also face two counts of conspiracy to cheat at gambling. 

They will appear at Eastern Magistrates’ Courts this afternoon (Thu) and ICAC does not rule out further law enforcement actions, stating the investigation is ongoing. 

In late October 2021, Fok allegedly offered HK$10,000 in bribes per match to a teammate, a midfielder of HKFC. 

Fok allegedly offered HK$30,000 and HK$10,000 to the midfielder and another midfielder of HKFC respectively in early November 2021 as well. Yet, both players rejected Fok’s offers. 

Between August 2022 and April 2023, the four defendants allegedly conspired together with another betting agent to win money through gambling by causing Happy Valley to lose matches or manipulating the number of goals or corner kicks by Happy Valley. 

Fok, Silva da Silva, and Mohammd also allegedly conspired together with the betting agent to win money in gambling by manipulating the number of goals or corner kicks of Central & Western District. 

ICAC enquiries revealed that the four placed bets in a total of over 30 matches participated by Happy Valley and Central & Western District in the 2022/2023 season, during which Fok had given live signals at matches to the betting agents concerned for placing bets.