S$250,000 missing from Hougang United Football Club; employee arrested

[beyond]

SINGAPORE — The Singapore Premier League kicked off on Saturday (Feb 23) with the AIA Community Shield at the Jalan Besar Stadium, but already one of its clubs has found itself in the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Hougang United Football Club, one of nine clubs in the professional football league, has filed a police report against an employee after losing some S$250,000 from its coffers.

An administrative staff member had allegedly taken the money from the clubhouse and its office in December last year, TODAY has learnt. She has since admitted to taking the money and has been arrested by the police.

When contacted, Hougang United general manager Matthew Tay confirmed that the club had lodged a police report, but declined further comment.

Responding to queries from TODAY, a Football Association of Singapore (FAS) spokesperson said: "The Football Association of Singapore is aware of this matter, and had raised various inquiries with the Club.

“A police report had been made, and the police have also arrested a Club staff in connection with this matter.”

TODAY understands that the missing funds were from the club’s jackpot operations, which had previously been reported to have seen surpluses of over S$2 million annually.

National football governing body FAS is also seeking clarifications from Hougang United on its financial governance with regard to this matter, TODAY has learnt.

Six of the nine league clubs currently run jackpot machines at their clubhouses: Albirex Niigata, Balestier Khalsa, Geylang International, Home United, Hougang United and Warriors FC.

Clubhouses with jackpot operations came under scrutiny in April 2017 when three local football clubs — Hougang United, Tiong Bahru Football Club (TBFC) and Woodlands Wellington — were raided by the police.

This was prompted by Sport Singapore filing a police report against National Football League side TBFC for suspected misuse of club funds and a purported attempt by a senior club official to obstruct the completing of audits of the league’s sit-out clubs.

TBFC and Hougang chairman Bill Ng and his wife Bonnie Wong, former FAS general secretary Winston Lee and former FAS president Zainudin Nordin were subsequently arrested.

Details that emerged from the case also shocked members of the fraternity, as TBFC was found to have earned S$37 million from its clubhouse operations while spending just S$169,000 on its football team.

A subsequent Government crackdown on such facilities saw a fifth of the 82 clubs running jackpot machines affected by tightened regulations announced in July 2017.

The new measures included: Reducing the quota for fruit machines, raising the minimum age for entry to jackpot rooms from 18 to 21 years old and limiting the operations hours of the facilities.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had said in November 2017 that seven clubs did not meet the criteria to operate fruit machines and were given six-month interim permits to wind down their jackpot operations by April last year.

Gombak United Football Club, Tanjong Pagar United Football Club, Singapore Xin Hua Sports Club and TBFC were among the clubs that did not meet that criteria.

[chamfer]

The football clubs's clubhouse becomes a front for running jackpot business...

[ODACHEK]

AHTC, AHTC, AHTC!!!

[Onglai]

corruptions on the rise