Fixer denies claims he predicted result, apologises to Cameroon

RIO DE JANEIRO: A convicted matchfixer denied a report in a German magazine on Tuesday that he predicted the result and details of a World Cup game.

Cameroon’s football federation said it was investigating the match-fixer’s allegations of corruption involving its World Cup squad and that seven of its players could have been bought.

Der Spiegel magazine claimed that Wilson Raj Perumal — the best-known match-fixer in football — accurately predicted hours before the game in an online chat with one of its journalists that Cameroon would lose 4-0 to Croatia and have a player sent off in the first half.

Der Spiegel’s claims rang alarm bells because Perumal was convicted of fixing matches in Finland and suspected of fixing other games in Africa and involving African teams. He isn’t averse to self-publicity, having recently published memoirs with two journalists as co-authors.

But in a statement, Perumal denied having predicted the outcome. He said a Facebook conversation about Cameroon with the Der Spiegel journalist happened three days after the game, not hours before as the reporter claimed.

“At no time did I make reference to four goals being scored or to a red card being issued,” Perumal said in his statement sent by the authors of his biography.

“I am shocked and amazed that a respected magazine such as Der Spiegel would go so far as to fabricate statements by yours truly with the visible aim of stirring the row over match-fixing,” he said. “I apologise to the Cameroon FA and to its fans if I inadvertently offended them; it was not my intention. I strongly believe that Der Spiegel should also do the same since they placed words in my mouth that I did not utter.”

The Associated Press saw alleged copies of a Facebook conversation where Perumal and the reporter chatted about Cameroon. But the exchanges were dated June 21, three days after the game.

Cameroon “is on the take i think,” Perumal claimed in the chat with Der Spiegel reporter Rafael Buschmann.

“They have i guess seven rotten apples in the team,” he added.