Ye Zheyun

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Ye.

Ye Zheyun is a Chinese business man who is accused of being involved in a Belgian football corruption -and betting scandal in 2005. Several teams and/or players would have received money from Ye Zheyun to influence match results, so involved gamblers could be certain of a gambling profit.

Teams mentioned in the scandal are Lierse, La Louvière, Sint-Truiden, AEC Mons, Verbroedering Geel and also Germinal Beerschot. Ye Zheyun always appeared at teams with financial problems, except for Beerschot, who had at that time a crucial match against AEC Mons who were on the verge of relegation. The insinuations about fixed results started after a few matches, on which were heavily betted, with strange events and/or results. Such as e.g. Lierse starting with a reserve team twice unexpectedly. Ye Zheyun had also been the owner of Finnish team AC Allianssi, due to bankruptcy a now defunct club who also seemed to experience from some strange match events at the end of their existence. Police investigated the case but found insufficient evidence.

The Belgian football association was heavily criticised by press and football fans for their indolent investigation about the whole case. A lot of players and teams were accused of being involved, but in the end only one team (Lierse, relegation to third division), one coach (Paul Put, three-year suspension) and one player (Hasan Kacić, two-year suspension) were found guilty of match fixing. Lierse and Kacić appealed against this verdict and eventually, on March 17, they were acquitted.

Ye Zheyun mostly worked together with Pietro Allatta and Olivier Suray. Police arrested both, but Allatta and Suray were released after interrogation. On 16 March 16 the Belgian Justice Department ordered an international arrest warrant against Ye Zheyun. It is unknown where he currently remains. His lawyer told French sports paper L'Équipe that Ye Zheyun denied all accusations and that he was residing somewhere in China.

External links

• "Bribery scandal in Belgium" at Xtreme Football Fans Forum (English)
• Humo files: Zheyun Ye (Dutch)