THE main witness in Britain's soccer match-rigging trial yesterday admitted he wanted to make as much money as possible from the case while crushing former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar.
Mr Chris Vincent, a former friend and business partner of Grobbelaar, covertly recorded the goalkeeper as, according to the prosecution, he admitted rigging games for a Far Eastern betting syndicate.
Under questioning from Grobbelaar's lawyer, Mr Rodney Klevan, Mr Vincent said he wanted revenge after a company he formed to market safari holidays in Zimbabwe collapsed when Grobbelaar, who had invested £65,000 in it, pulled out.
"Therefore, if you could kill two birds with one stone, you would gain financially and destroy Grobbelaar?" asked Mr KIevan.
"Correct, sir," answered Mr Vincent.
"You thought that what he had done was so wicked that he had to be destroyed?" Mr Klevan asked later.
"Yes," said Mr Vincent who admitted that since 1984 he had been director of four companies in southern Africa and Britain, all of which had failed.
Grobbelaar and three others are charged with match-fixing and Mr Vincent's secret tapes, covertly recorded by the Sun newspaper, are a crucial part of the evidence.
Mr Vincent said Grobbelaar told him that co-defendant and the former Wimbledon striker, John Fashanu - accused of being a middleman for the syndicate - had made a move to Aston Villa in 1994 because match-fixing had become too risky.
Also on trial are a Malaysian businessman, Mr Heng Suan Lim, accused of being a middleman for the syndicate, and the former Wimbledon goalkeeper, Hans Segers, accused with Mr Lim and Fashanu of taking part in a separate bid to fix matches. All four have pleaded not guilty.
On one of the tapes Grobbelaar was seen taking £2,000 in cash, which Mr Vincent said he told the goalkeeper had come from another betting syndicate that wanted him to rig matches. Mr Vincent says he told Grobbelaar the mythical syndicate would pay him £2,000 every fortnight to predict the results of games, plus a further £100,000 for rigging each match.
Mr Klevan portrayed Mr Vincent as a parasite who had lived well off Grobbelaar's money but decided to strike back when the goalkeeper stopped putting funds into the safari company.
"If this safari plan had succeeded, you would have reaped the rewards, but none of the liabilities had it failed, isn't that fair?" asked Mr Klevan.
"Yes," said Mr Vincent, who has signed a £76,000 book deal as well as negotiating film rights.
"Without the money from this you are a man without money," aren't you?" asked Mr Klevan. "Yes, sir," replied Mr Vincent.