PSSI says Djafar acted alone in referee scam
JAKARTA (JP): All-Indonesian Soccer Federation (PSSI) chairman Azwar Anas said that Djafar Umar, deputy chairman of the referee committee, orchestrated the match-fixing racket involving referees and local soccer clubs alone.
"There are no other parties involved in organizing the collusion. Djafar ran the racket himself," Azwar, quoted by Antara, said during a meeting with PSSI officials Thursday.
Djafar has been sacked and banned from refereeing for 20 years by the PSSI. Amran YS is the committee's chairman.
Azwar said that the PSSI wants to rid the game of the practice and has set up a team to thoroughly investigate the incident. The team is headed by Adang Ruchiyatna.
Djafar has sent a personal letter to PSSI apologizing for the misuse of his authority as the referee committee deputy chairman, Azwar said.
If it is felt that there are sufficient grounds to bring Djafar before a court, the PSSI investigative team will assist the police with further inquiries, he added.
The issue of who masterminded the racket is still an open question. A number of soccer observers have stated their belief that others were involved in the scheme.
Djafar is on the record as having said that the names of referees for Indonesian league matches are always checked by Nugraha Besoes, the PSSI secretary.
Nugraha confirmed that all committee actions must be cleared by him, including the choice of referees, and expressed surprise at the dishonesty of his former colleague.
"Routine administration in the PSSI is carried out by the secretary. Programs and plans are developed by committees which work under the secretary. At first I trusted Djafar to determine which referees were put on duty because I considered all officials on the federation's board to have integrity," Nugraha said.
Stop fixtures
Julius Raja from the PSSI North Sumatra office in Medan has urged the federation to postpones league fixtures until the case is finally closed.
"If the PSSI wants to clear out the refereeing mafia, it is best that all league matches are stopped. We should look at Malaysia, who cleared bribery out of soccer," Julius said Wednesday. Julius is an active member of the PSMS Medan club.
He doubted that the league competition would be received favorably by the public until the collusion case was settled.
Julius added that to punish Djafar alone was unfair. Officials who worked closely with him should also be sanctioned.
"I believe there are many honest and competent referees in Indonesia. The problem is that they are not given the opportunity to officiate in leading matches," Julius said. (lnt)