Feb 16, 2012
Translated by Ma Zheng

Earlier this morning, a court handed down sentences to four referees caught up in a high profile corruption case involving high-level officials, referees and players within China's national football league.

The People's Intermediate Court of Dandong, which is located in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning, began sentencing of the four referees on charges of "non-government official accepting bribes" and of "bribing government officials" from 9am this morning.  

Referee Huang Junjie (黄俊杰) received the harshest sentence, with the court ordering him to serve a 7-year prison sentence and fined 200,000 yuan.

According to the People's Procuratorate of Dandong City in Liaoning province, Huang Junjie had accepted a total of almost 1.5 million yuan and 100,000 Hong Kong dollars in bribes from football clubs and others between 2005 and 2009.

During the investigation into Huang, he admitted receiving money in relation to a match between Sydney FC and China's Shanghai Shenhua in 2009 and to Manchester United's 6-0 friendly win over Shenzhen FC in 2007.

Before the sentence was announced, Huang's lawyer told reporters that Huang would only accept a sentence of six years or less and said that his client would appeal if a longer term was handed down. 　

Another well-known referee, Lu Jun, who officiated at the 2002 World Cup, was handed a prison terms of 5 years and 6 months and was also fined 100,000 yuan in addition to being stripped of any illegally-obtained funds.

The other two referees, Zhou Weixin and Wan Daxue, received prison terms of 3 years and 6 months and 6 years respectively.

Other high-level officials involved in the case such as the former heads of the Chinese Football Association, Nan Yong and Xie Yalong, are still in custody awaiting trial.

Links and Sources
China News Service: 足球反赌案开始宣判 “黑哨”黄俊杰一审获刑7年
CCTV: 四大黑哨判决出炉：黄俊杰刑期最长 陆俊5年半