Canada Soccer Player Alleges 5 Took Bribes

Five members of Canada’s national soccer team took thousands of dollars in bribes to throw a tournament in Singapore in 1986, one of the players involved in the deal told CBC-TV’s “Fifth Estate” Tuesday night.

Paul James, 26, of Oakville, Ontario, said a friendly game of cards among himself, Igor Vrablic of Waterloo, Ontario; David Norman of Coquitlam, British Columbia; Chris Cheuden of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Hector Marinaro of Mississauga, Ontario, turned into a conspiracy to throw Canada’s semifinal game against North Korea for $15,000 each.

The scandal broke in November, 1987, when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police charged Vrablic, Norman, Cheuden and Marinaro with accepting bribes to affect the outcome of an international tournament. James was to be granted immunity to testify as a Crown witness.

Charges were dropped, however, when a judge ruled that the Criminal Code could not be enforced outside Canada and that, therefore, whatever happened in Singapore was out of the court’s jurisdiction.

James, Vrablic, Norman and Marinaro have been playing soccer in Canada since the charges were dropped. Cheuden has played in the United States.