Just a week after admitting that domestic football isn't yet free of match fixing, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MIFA) have revealed that they remanded three players from a second-tier club after some suspicious results.
The trio, which includes an import player from Argentina, are from Malaysian Indian Football Association (MISC-MIFA) in the Malaysia Premier League.
They were brought in for questioning on March 5 after MIFA ran an internal investigation in the wake of big defeats against Sarawak (6-3) in the FA Cup on Feb. 14, and Uitm FC (7-2) in the Premier League on March 3.
MIFA's quick thinking and alertness was praised by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).
"MIFA conducted their own internal investigations and submitted their findings to the MACC. They were proactive and this is what we want other teams to do," FAM secretary general Datuk Hamidin Amin told The Star.
"We will wait for the MACC investigations to be completed and the case to be brought to court. The players will be banned for life if they are found guilty of match fixing."
MACC, which is Malaysia's government agency in charge of investigating and prosecuting corruption, conceded recently that elements of match fixing still existed.
"There are always bookies out there looking for opportunities to get in touch with the players and trying to get them on the take," MACC deputy chief commissioner Datuk Azam Baki said last month.
The FAM integrity department had already started investigations on the second-tier Premier League club after their coach Jacob Joseph alleged his players were "dishonest" after the 7-2 loss to Uitm FC.
"The players do well in training, but make silly mistakes in matches," Joseph told The New Straits Times. "In the thrashing by Sarawak, I suspected something was amiss and had to make substitutions after we let in four silly goals."
The trio will be detained until April 12 for further action.
The most high-profile case before this was in 2014, when five Kuala Lumpur players were handed life bans, with another 17 fined after they were found guilty of match-fixing.