By Rozanna Latiff
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said there would be no cover-up in domestic investigations into alleged document forgery that led to FIFA suspending seven naturalised players of the national football team, the state news agency reported on Friday.
The global soccer body said this week it would launch a formal probe into the Football Association of Malaysia’s internal operations and notify authorities in five countries of potential criminal proceedings, after dismissing the association’s appeal against the players’ suspension.
FAM last month suspended its secretary-general and said it would form an independent committee to investigate. It also said this week it planned to bring the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Anwar vowed transparency in the probe, but stressed that FAM should be allowed to defend itself and that the government would not act based on FIFA’s findings alone.
“Go ahead and investigate. That has been the instruction. But then again, the process has to go on,” Anwar was quoted as saying by state news agency Bernama.
PLAYERS BANNED FOR 12 MONTHS
The players were given a 12-month ban in September after FIFA found that false documentation had been used so they could play in an Asian Cup qualifier for Malaysia against Vietnam.
The findings sparked outrage in Malaysia, with fans and some lawmakers calling for action to be taken against officials at FAM and government agencies involved in issuing citizenship documents.
Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh told parliament on Thursday the ministry had no power to sack FAM officials, as any government interference in national football bodies risked triggering a FIFA suspension – a move that would affect not only the senior national team, but the entirety of Malaysian football, including its youth and women’s squads.
“I understand the public anger, but I have to abide by the current process and the findings made by FIFA so far involving the seven players,” Yeoh said.
The ministry has, however, proposed not to give additional funding to FAM pending the outcome of the committee’s investigation, which would be led by a top former Malaysian judge, she said.
A report by FIFA’s appeals committee showed how Facundo Garces, Gabriel Arrocha, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel – all born outside Malaysia – were granted Malaysian nationality in a process supervised by FAM.
While the players said their grandparents were born in Malaysia, FIFA said it was able to obtain birth certificates that had significant discrepancies with those submitted by FAM.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Alex Richardson)
