By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
April 22 – The entire membership of Asian football has been officially warned against accepting bribes or backhanders in the build-up to the forthcoming presidential election. Less than two weeks before the eagerly awaited vote, InsideWorldFootball has been leaked a confidential letter that urges delegates to behave properly and not discredit their already corruption-tarnished confederation.
Following weeks of claims and counter-claims by the candidates bidding to replace Mohamed bin Hamman as president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the letter asks all 46 AFC member countries to remember their “ethical obligations” when separate ballots take place on May 2 for AFC president and a place on FIFA’s all-powerful executive committee.
The correspondence first welcomes delegates to next month’s AFC Congress in Kuala Lumpur before going on to issue a series of anti-corruption guidelines designed to protect the AFC’s credibility.
Outlawed conduct, the memo states, includes “offering and accepting gifts and benefits; bribery; and conflicts of interests.”
Signed by AFC general secretary Dato’ Alex Soosay, the correspondence – written on official AFC letter-headed paper and copied to FIFA – further states: “It is the duty and obligation of the Confederation to prevent the introduction of improper methods and practises which might jeopardise the integrity of, or give rise to, the abuse of football and hence would (sic) like to remind the stakeholders about their ethical obligations.”
All officials at the Congress, it adds, are expected to “show commitment to an ethical attitude”.
The anti-corruption warning is understood to be virtually unprecedented and comes at a time when candidates are entering their final few days of intensive lobbying.
InsideWorldFootball has already exposed a trail of interference by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) in the elections which are turning out to be a bitter battle for power at the top of the AFC involving Youssef al Serkal of the United Arab Emirates, Thailand’s Worawi Makudi, Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa – understood to be heavily backed by the OCA – and the rank outsider, Saudi Arabia’s Hafez Al Medlej. Two years ago, Sheikh Salman lost out to bin Hammam by two votes for a FIFA executive committee place in a bitter battle for supremacy.
With the life ban on bin Hammam still fresh in the memory and the very future of Asian football at stake following a spate of corruption scandals, especially over financial mismanagement, the AFC missive to delegates proves how politically sensitive the election has become.
It also shows how desperate the AFC is to make sure voting is conducted cleanly in order to avoid the kind of skullduggery and corruption claims that have historically accompanied votes of such political magnitude both within Asia and FIFA itself.
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