WINCHESTER - The lawyer for the former Wimbledon striker, John Fashanu, yesterday denied his client was guilty of fixing soccer matches and said there was absolutely no evidence to suggest he was corrupt.
Mr Trevor Burke told a court that the prosecution had failed to prove Fashanu was involved in any attempt to fix matches for an Asian betting syndicate.
"The case against Fashanu is the weakest of all," said Mr Burke, noting that the striker - Wimbledon's top scorer for six consecutive seasons - had not been accused of actually underperforming on the field.
"The Crown did not find a single incident worthy of you to consider by playing frame by frame film to show Fashanu missing an open goal, conceding a penalty or making a dreadful backpass which allowed the opposition to score a goal," he said.
Fashanu and a Malaysian businessman, Mr Heng Suan Lim, are accused of passing cash from the betting syndicate to the former Liverpool goalkeeper, Bruce Grobbelaar, and the former Wimbledon keeper, Hans Segers, to fix matches by letting in goals.
Mr Lim admits he paid the two goalkeepers to forecast the results of matches but all four deny rigging games.