• Ex-Whitehawk player conspired to fix lower league games • Two Far Eastern businessmen also convicted in same plot

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

A Conference South footballer and two businessmen from Singapore have been convicted of involvement in a match-fixing conspiracy targeting lower league fixtures.

The former Whitehawk FC defender Michael Boateng was found guilty by an 11-1 majority verdict of conspiracy to commit bribery following a four-week trial at Birmingham crown court.

The 22-year-old player, of Davidson Road, Croydon, south London, was found guilty alongside the businessmen Chann Sankaran and Krishna Ganeshan, who were unanimously convicted of the same offence.

Jurors have cleared Hakeem Adelakun, who also played for Brighton-based Whitehawk, of involvement in the conspiracy and have yet to reach a verdict on a third footballer, Moses Swaibu.

The jury was told that Sankaran, 33, of Hougang Avenue, Singapore, and Ganeshan, 44, of Hawthorn Road, Hastings, East Sussex and who has dual UK and Singapore nationality, were the “central figures” in efforts to influence the outcome of matches in League Two and the Conference South.

Adelakun, 23, of Thornton Heath, south London, told the jury he knew nothing at all about any plot to fix matches.

Swaibu, 25, of Tooley Street, Bermondsey, south London, denies a single count of conspiracy to offer, promise or give a financial advantage to other persons.