By Andrew Warshaw
November 9 – Senior Asian officials are privately questioning why prosecutors in Malaysia have suddenly dropped charges against a man accused of stealing documents linked to banned former powerbroker Mohamed Bin Hammam.
In September Kong Lee Toong, husband of Amelia Gan – who was finance director of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) at the time it was run by Bin Hammam – pleaded not guilty when he appeared before a magistrate in Kuala Lumpur charged with stealing papers from the AFC’s offices, apparently relating to Bin Hammam’s personal banking transactions.
The theft charge took place around the time Bin Hammam was suspended by both the AFC and FIFA over allegations of misuse of AFC funds.
Bin Hammam (pictured below), who has always steadfastly protested his innocence, countered that documents detailing “personal payments” were stolen from his office, and were included in an internal AFC audit of his activities as president, carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Now, in a surprise development, the case against Toong has been withdrawn even though Kee Wei Lon, deputy public prosecutor in the Malaysian attorney-general’s office, had previously said that the alleged theft involved “a financial document from AFC House” and occurred on July 31.
Toong’s lawyer Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin declined to say why the charges had been dropped.
“I am happy the prosecutors gave the charge a thorough consideration and decided to withdraw the case,” was his only comment.
The new development comes amid an increasingly bitter battle between supporters and enemies of Bin Hammam within the AFC.
The case against the 63-year-old Qatari, whose suspension was recently extended for a final 45 days, will have to be concluded one way or the other at the end of this period.
Many senior AFC officials are understood to be shocked by the case against Toong being withdrawn, believing that pressure may have been applied from certain quarters, adding even more intrigue and confusion to the Bin Hammam case and further fuelling splits within the AFC hierarchy.
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