SINGAPORE - An ex-wife of alleged match-fixer Dan Tan Seet Eng appeared in court on Friday (Jan 15) to answer a charge of giving false information to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).

Guan Enmei's case was fixed for mention for the 40-year-old to plead guilty but she denied the charge.

She said: "I did not give false information.''

The Singaporean woman, who was charged in May last year, is accused of knowingly giving false information to a senior special investigator of the bureau by stating during an interview on June 6, 2013, that she had left her house with only her handbag.

She allegedly denied that she had taken with her a paper bag containing two laptops when she left her home, which she knew to be false.

Guan, who is unrepresented, told District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt that she wanted to have the case concluded for the sake of her son so that she could take him to China for his education.

The judge told her that he could not accept a plea out of convenience.

He noted that the prosecution was asking for a fairly long jail term.

Guan, who was in tears, said she did not give false information.

Her case is fixed for a pre-trial conference on Jan 28. She is out on $10,000 bail.

If convicted, she could be fined up to $10,000 and jailed for up to one year.

Her 51-year-old ex-husband - described by Interpol as "the leader of the world's most notorious match-fixing syndicate" - has been detained under the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act. Guan and Tan, who has been thrice married and has two sons from a previous marriage, have an 11-year-old son.

He had been detained since September 2013 and released in November last year by Singapore's highest court before his re-arrest six days later on Dec 1.

Under the CLTPA, the police can detain a person for up to 16 days after arrest, while investigations are ongoing.