By REYNALD MAGALLON
The PBA is set to launch its own probe after some of its teams and players got dragged into a graft case against a Singaporean businessman who allegedly tried to influence the results of games – the PBA included.
A news report from Singapore broadsheet The Strait Times on Saturday, April 22, calimed that a certain Koa Wei Quan – a Singaporean businessman – is facing 14 counts of graft charges for allegedly offering bribes to players to fix games from April to July 2018.
Mentioned in the report was the name Magnolia big man Ian Sangalang while unnamed players from PBA team Blackwater Elite were also allegedly involved.
“We will investigate. Iimbestigahan namin iyan, titingnan namin. Kailangan talaga natin diyan mga konkretong ebidensya at mga dokumento. Kakausapin natin, magiging mahabang imbestigasyon iyan,” said PBA Commissioner Willie Marcial.
According to the report, Koa worked with former PBA player Leo Avenido and a certain Sergei Bien Orillo to reach out to Sangalang and offer him $5,000 to lose Magnolia’s match against San Miguel by 9 points or more during Game 5 of the 2018 Philippine Cup Finals.
The Hotshots did lose the game but by 9 point, 108-99 in double-overtime with Sangalang finishing with 11 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block while also committing eight turnovers.
Koa, through Orillo and Avenido, also allegedly reached out to some undisclosed members of Blackwater who were also offered a P525,000 bribe to either drop the game against the then Columbian Dyip (now Terrafirma) or win by a four-point margin or less.
The incident also happened again around April 25 when Koa and company once again offered a bribe of 1.5 million pesos to unnamed Blackwater players, this time, to win its game against Phoenix by an unspecified margin.
Blackwater lost in both games as they finished the conference with a measly 1-10 record.
Also dragged into the controversy was Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 team member and TNT 3×3’s Almond Vosotros who was allegedly offered a total of $3,700 to fix games in the Thailand league.
Koa’s case has been adjourned and if convicted of graft, he can be jailed up to five years on top of a hefty fine.
