Prosecutors in the trial of four international footballers accused of match-fixing have been forced to drop one of the main charges against them.
Senior government counsel Gramsci Di Fazio told Eastern Court yesterday he would proceed on all charges apart from a count of conspiracy to cheat at gambling, which covered all four.
The conspiracy charge accused Lee Wai-man, 25, Kevin Lok Kar-win, 25, Chan Chi-keung, 28, and Wai Kwan-lung, 22, of plotting with former Sing Tao player Chan Tsz-kong, 26, to fix a World Cup match against Thailand in Bangkok.
It will remain on file but can be heard only at the leave of the court.
The move came after Magistrate Robert McNair ruled the prosecution had to elect to continue with either the conspiracy charge or the eight other charges relating to match-fixing.
Mr McNair said he was not satisfied that Mr Di Fazio had offered enough justification to proceed on the conspiracy and the substantive charges together.
