Two Valencia fans on honeymoon in Singapore were held by local authorities and had their passports confiscated after an act of protest against Peter Lim’s ownership of the La Liga club.
Lim, 71, is one of Singapore’s richest men and took over at Valencia in 2014. He has become deeply unpopular with a large majority of their supporters, and regular rallies and protests have been held against his stewardship.
On Thursday, Dani Cuesta posted images on his social media account that showed him attaching a sticker reading ‘Lim Out’ to the entrance of what Cuesta said was a Lim-owned hotel complex in the Asian city-state.
The Singapore authorities became aware of this and Cuesta and his wife were detained the next day. The two Spanish citizens have not yet been charged with a crime, but have had their passports confiscated while a police investigation takes place — according to Valencia’s mayor Maria Jose Catala.
In quotes carried by Spanish radio station Onda Cero on Tuesday morning, Catala said the pair are allowed to leave their hotel, but not the country. She said she had been in touch with the Spanish embassy in Singapore and Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of efforts to resolve the situation.
The mayor said the couple were due in court on Wednesday, but that no charges had yet been brought.
How did this all start?
After arriving in Singapore on honeymoon last week, Cuesta posted on X on Thursday that he would “take some photos with my lovely flag” (which read ‘Lim Go Home’). He asked people to suggest places he should visit, while also saying in an apparent joke: “but not so that I end up in a Singapore prison as that’s not the way I see my honeymoon going”.
Cuesta then posted images from landmark sites around Singapore of him with his flag, and a video of himself putting a sticker on the external door of what he said was the Abelia hotel.
Valencia fans have held several large protests over Lim’s ownership in recent years (Xisco Navarro/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Later the same day, a fellow Valencia fan told Cuesta via X that Lim actually lived in a suite at the property. Cuesta celebrated in another message that his act represented “another step forward for Valencianismo”.
The images went viral among Valencia supporters. Cuesta made an appearance on Tribuna Deportiva, a radio show about the club, to discuss what happened and on Libertad VCF radio, a programme run by a fan group devoted to ending Lim’s decade-long control of Valencia.
How did the Singaporean authorities react?
On Friday, Singapore police detained the couple. Cuesta and his new wife had their passports confiscated, so they could not leave the country, meaning they could not continue on to Bali for the next leg of their honeymoon.
Today (Tuesday), Valencia’s mayor provided an update on the situation.
“This morning, I spoke with the (Spanish) embassy in Singapore,” Catala told Onda Cero. “They confirmed that two people had their passports taken away, due to an ongoing police investigation. They have not been told what type of crime (they are being investigated for). They can leave their hotel but not the country.”
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Various Spanish media reports today have said Cuesta and his wife could face vandalism charges. The Athletic has contacted Singapore police to ask what charges, if any, they might face.
Singapore does have very strict vandalism laws. In the past, foreigners have been jailed and received physical punishment in the form of being beaten with a cane when found guilty of the offence.
“Any person who commits any act of vandalism or attempts to do any such act or causes any such act to be done shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years,” says section three of Singapore’s Vandalism Act from 1966.
The same legislation also says that vandalism can also “be punished with caning with not less than three strokes and not more than eight strokes”, depending on how the offence is categorised.
In 2015, German nationals Andreas Von Knorre, 22, and Elton Hinz, 21, pleaded guilty to entering a train depot and spraying graffiti on a train. They were sentenced to nine months in prison and three strokes of a cane.
Amid international criticism of that sentence, a spokeswoman for Singapore’s attorney general told the AFP news agency: “Singapore’s laws against vandalism are well known. Caning is a prescribed punishment for the offence of vandalism, and the law applies to any person who chooses to break it.”
In 1994, an 18-year-old United States national, Michael Fay, was convicted of vandalism in Singapore. He was caned four times, even after then-U.S. president Bill Clinton tried to intervene.
It remains to be seen how serious the authorities view Cuesta’s placing a sticker on the exterior door of a private building.
What is the reaction back in Spain?
The story has generated significant media coverage in Spain, and authorities there have looked to act within the usual diplomatic routes.
“We’re working to get this resolved as soon as possible,” Pilar Bernabe, the Spanish government’s delegate in the Valencia region told reporters on Monday. “We have to allow the situation to proceed. Things will be clearer within a few days. They are doing OK, the family are aware of the situation and have consular support. They are being accompanied through the whole process. We are working intensely so that it can be resolved as soon as possible.”
Valencia fans protest against Lim’s ownership last year (Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
Many Valencia fans are outraged at the treatment of one of their own. Most in the city would be very familiar with the yellow anti-Lim stickers, which have become a common sight around the city and the club’s Mestalla home stadium in recent years.
A Libertad VCF statement called on Spanish authorities to ensure the pair were “immediately freed”. It also said that Lim should use his influence in Singapore to help their case.
Who is Lim and why do Valencia fans protest at his ownership?
Lim rose from humble beginnings to become a billionaire, working first in finance and then making his fortune through many successful investments. He tried to buy into other football clubs, including Liverpool, Scotland’s Rangers and Atletico Madrid, before taking control of Valencia a decade ago.
The first foreign owner in the club’s history, he was initially welcomed, given the club had deep financial problems following a decade of institutional instability. However, Lim quickly became unpopular with local fans.
The Singapore businessman’s links to Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes were heavily criticised locally, while Lim’s hiring of former Manchester United and England full-back turned TV football pundit Gary Neville, then a fellow co-owner of English lower-league club Salford City, as manager in December 2015 lasted less than four months.
There have been moments of success, such as winning the 2018-19 Copa del Rey, Spain’s version of the FA Cup. But that was quickly followed by coach Marcelino Garcia Toral and sporting director Mateu Alemany both leaving early the following season and being publicly critical of the owner.
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Valencia, six times La Liga title winners and back-to-back Champions League finalists in 2000 and 2001, have since been stuck largely in La Liga’s bottom half, finishing no higher than ninth in the 20-team division, and with the club’s annual squad budget having fallen significantly. During recent seasons, former Valencia player Ruben Baraja has successfully coached a young team to avoid relegation but the half-finished Nou Mestalla stadium, mothballed since 2009 for financial reasons, is another very visible sign of the club’s stagnation through recent years.
Fan groups and some former Valencia directors have tried in recent years to force Lim to sell up, without success. Last month, La Liga president Javier Tebas praised Lim’s financial management of the club, and pointed out he had invested millions of his own money while dealing with huge debts left by the previous, local, owners.
What have Valencia and La Liga said?
The issue is awkward for Valencia, whose president Layhoon Chan is a former Singaporean diplomat. Chan has tried to improve relations between fans and board, although Lim still retains close control over all big decisions at the club, including transfer business.
“Valencia CF, in relation to the news published about the situation of two of the club’s supporters in Singapore, wish that it is all resolved as quickly and well as possible,” read a club statement released on Tuesday. “Valencia CF and La Liga are in contact with the Spanish embassy in Singapore, who have assured us that both are being advised and assisted in everything necessary with the objective of this being resolved as quickly as possible.”
La Liga told The Athletic they were doing all they could to support the couple but could not publicly share details of the case.
(Top photo: Aitor Alcalde Colomer/Getty Images)
