Zheyun Ye

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

Zheyun Ye 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 gotten money from Zheyun Ye to influence match results, so involved gamblers could be certain of a guaranteed gambling profit.

Teams mentioned in the scandal are Lierse, La Louvière, Sint-Truiden, AEC Mons, V. Geel and also G. Beerschot. Zheyun Ye always showed up at teams with financial problems, except for G. Beerschot, who had at that time a crucial match against AEC Mons who were at the verge of relegating. 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 b-team twice unexpectedly. Zheyun Ye had also been manager of Finnish team AC Allianssi, due to bankruptcy a now defunct club who also seemed to suffer from some strange match events at the end of their existence. Police investigated the case but found no sufficient 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, lifetime suspension) and one player (Hasan Kacić, 2 year suspension) were found guilty of match fixing. Lierse en Kacić appealed against this verdict and eventually, on March 17, they were acquitted.

Zheyun Ye mostly worked together with Pietro Allatta and Olivier Suray. Police arrested both, but Allatta and Suray were released after interrogation. On March 16, 2006, the Belgian Justice Department ordered an international arrest warrant against Zheyun Ye. It is unknown where he currently remains. May 6, his lawyer told French sports paper L'Équipe that Zheyun Ye denied all accusations and that he was residing somewhere in China.