SINGAPORE - Four Singaporeans will have their detention orders extended for a year, for their involvement in global football match-fixing activities, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in a statement on Wednesday.

Under the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act, which allows for suspects to be detained without trial, detention orders are up to a year and are reviewed annually.

The Straits Times understands that one of the four Singaporeans detained is Dan Tan Seet Eng, the alleged ringleader of an international match-fixing syndicate.

Tan had filed a court order in August seeking a judicial review of his detention. He has been in detention since October last year, after being nabbed in an islandwide raid conducted by police and anti-graft officers in September last year.

Tan's lawyer Hamidul Haq, from Rajah & Tann, told The Straits Times: "This is separate from the contest we are having in the court because this particular extension is done quite independently of the court...We have submitted the application and the application will be heard at the end of this month."

Tan, who is reportedly also wanted in Italy and Hungary, has been labelled by global police organisation Interpol as the "leader of the world's most notorious match-fixing syndicate". The Singaporean businessman's alleged ring is said to have rigged more than 150 matches in countries including Hungary, Finland and Nigeria.

Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs Masagos Zulkifli said in a statement: "We will maintain our zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and in this context for match-fixing. Offenders have and will continue to be dealt with firmly and resolutely under our laws.

"Last year, with the assistance of Interpol, we took out four individuals involved in a global match-fixing activities and detained them...This had effectively dismantled the syndicate."