Nairobi City Stars dragnet nabs match fixers; Russian, Ugandan among trio arrested in Roysambu

The evening of Friday 10 stretching into the early morning hours of Saturday 11 March 2023 will go down into Kenya's match fixing roadmap as a historic moment.

For a long time, football – arguably the most popular sport in the country – has been hit by one very disheartening vice in match fixing.

A menace so deep rooted that games being played on the fields either on weekends or weekdays led to the few remaining spectators brandishing the encounters as replays as the encounters had an already predetermined outcome dictated by the individuals who ran the fixing show behind the scenes.

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But on that fateful Friday, a little light, lit by a brave and heroic Nairobi City Stars dragnet helped Kenyan police officers nab three of the drivers behind the vice that has chipped away at Kenyan football and reduced it to its deathbed.

Starting from around four in the afternoon that day, Mozzart Sport Kenya gives you a full recount of how a team of eight players and one official from the top tier outfit hitched a plan that ended up with one Russian national (Akhiad Kubiev) alongside one Ugandan (Berbard Navendi) and one Kenyan (Martin Munga Mutua) spending the night on the floors of the Kasarani Stadium Police Station after being arrested in the midst of planning for their next market.

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Beginning

It all started with a single phone call at around 4:30 pm that Friday to Festo Omukoto, a former Kakamega Homeboyz midfielder who had once suffered the consequences of match fixing after being handed a four year ban by world football governing body FIFA back in 2020.

Apparently, the same match fixers who had been involved with the player back then got in touch once again to try and curve out another deal using him as one of their former contacts.

Having gone through the dark days of humiliation and suffering after being banned from the game he dearly loved, Omukoto quickly saw the opportunity as his chance at redemption. So he came up with an idea to ensure the perpetrators are brought to book.

Having been stalked by the predators for close to a month on social media, the player finally ‘agreed’ to help the fixers get to their next clients which was supposed to be Nairobi City Stars.

His role in the deal was to establish contact between him and the club who were supposed to join the bandwagon of teams the fixers collude with to engage in the menace.

Upon ‘agreeing’ to help, the player quickly called City Stars CEO Patrick Korir and tipped him off about what was going on.

“At around 4:30, Omukoto called me and told me that something serious was going on. He however did not tell me much as he said that he would refer me to James Situma – the Kenya Footballers Welfare Association chairman - to explain everything to me,” Korir told Mozzart Sport.

“A few minutes later, Situma called me and informed me that the match fixers were in town and they had given Omukoto a plan of what they can do (with City Stars). It is there that he explained how Omukoto wanted to hitch a plan that could get the match fixers busted so that he would clear his name from the vice,” Korir regales.

Shocked by the gravity of the matter, Korir thought to get into contact with the team’s coordinator Samson Otieno to try and make a decision together on the next step of action to take on the issue.

Having initially complained of match fixing claims especially after their 2-1 away loss to Bandari in Mombasa where the team shocking saw a penalty awarded against them in the twelfth minute of added time after the regulation time, the duo reached a consensus to follow through with the matter.

“I never do anything at City Stars without consulting Sam. So when we talk, he tells me that it is time to take up the matter especially after our shouting and complaints which people thought we were making noise about because we lost. We then agree to listen to what Omukoto wanted,” Korir said.

“Omukoto told us that since the match fixers depended on him to link them up with clubs, City Stars needed to look for some players so that they could meet with the match fixers,” he added.

Planning

In the process of planning, City Stars managed to avail three players for the meeting. But when Omukoto contacted the fixers, they boldly demanded for seven players in order to have the plan work and not three.

“They were given a brief. That in order for the plan to work, there needed to be seven players. And they are very specific – a goalkeeper, three defenders, two midfielders and one striker. So Sam realized he only had two defenders and one midfielder, so he called the other players and they ended up becoming eight and not even seven. So we decide, we will use our players to set them up,” Korir explains.

The team then proceeded to Lumumba Drive in the infamous Roysambu to meet this team.

All this while, Korir rang up Kenya Police FC CEO Chris Onguso to ask for security personnel to help in flushing out the criminals from the building.

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Arrest

“The moment we had a location, I called Kenya Police CEO requesting for his help where I told him how I am using my players to help trap match fixers. I already had the media on location as well so I only needed the police officers to arrest these guys. He gave me the much needed assistance and at around 1033EAT, the arrests had been done and were being ferried to Kasarani Stadium Police Station,” he narrated.

Being the CEO of the club, Korir drove to the station to get his team of eight players and Sam out of the bad books as the three match fixers were nabbed.

Fixing Plan

Speaking after being released, Sam revealed how exactly they wanted the fixing scheme to be orchestrated.

“These guys were staying in something like a temporary apartment because the house only had one plastic seat and the mattresses were on the floor. The way they were to fix the match was that in the first ten minutes of our game against Sofapaka, we were to lose by 1-0.

Then, upto half time, no team was supposed to score. In the second half, around the 70th minute, a signal would be sent to the team to ensure that nothing meaningful was happening. So during that time and the 78th minute, they would stake an amount and from the 80th minute, we were to lose by two goals," he said.

"So if we score, we had to be scored. And that is how the match was supposed to end and afterwards they pay those involved," he added.

Money involved

Samson went on to reveal that the match fixers had offered 1.4 million to divide among ten people for the first game but the money was to increase in subsequent matches based on an individual’s or a club’s cooperation.

He also noted that the fixers told them that the midweek matches attracted huge sums than the weekend matches but without revealing the reason as to why.

On his part, Omukoto expressed relief in being able to play his part in ending the vice which has threatened Kenyan football.

“I knew the more we keep letting these guys get away with it, the more Kenyan football would continue to suffer. My part was just to see to it that they meet City Stars and I felt I needed to help because this is what I went through and it was not a good feeling back then. Also, our football right now is on its knees so I wanted to help.

I feel as if now this will serve as a lesson to the other match fixers because they know that we are on alert and I hope we can deal with it and kick it out from our game,” he told Mozzart Sport.

City Stars CEO Korir called on the lawmakers in the country to pass a legislation to criminalize matchfixing

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"I am glad that I am part of this together with the media and KEFWA so that everyone can be part of fixing this match fixing issue. What happens beyond here is a matter of the police but it needs to be legislated that match fixing is a crime.

There needs to be a law that can be used so that when people are arrested such as now, they can be put behind bars. That is the next direction we need to be taking but for today I am glad that we can put faces to the noise that we have been making," he concluded.