By Andrew Warshaw
July 23 – Three months after being replaced on FIFA’s executive committee following an 18-year stint, Thai football boss Worawi Makudi has been found guilty of electoral fraud in his homeland and sentenced to a suspended jail term.
Makudi, president of the Football Association of Thailand, was found to have falsified documents in his 2013 presidential election campaign, the latest example of an established FIFA figure being outed for corruption and another blow to the organisation just when it is trying to recover its credibility.
Makudi, whose long FIFA career was constantly marred in scandal, is to appeal against the sentence – trimmed from an initial two years to 16 months – which was identical to that of Ong-art Korsinca, former Thai FA secretary general.
The pair had been sued by the Pattaya FC for their roles in fraudulently changing documents in the FAT election in October 2013 which saw Makudi re-elected. He was accused of cutting number of members of the association from 184 to 72, thereby reducing the voting power of those clubs opposed to his re-election.
Makudi has been accused in the past of misusing FIFA development funds at home but has always escaped censure. Unconfirmed reports have suggested that he is one of five officials under investigation by FIFA’ ethics committee for alleged misconduct in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process.
Makudi joined FIFA’s exco in 1997, the year before Sepp Blatter became president. But in April, the Asian Football Confederation voted to replace him with Malaysia’s Prince Abdullah. At the AFC Congress in Bahrain, he received only 13 votes compared with Prince Abdullah’s 25.
Makudi has won re-election to his post as the head of Thai football three times though last September a letter signed by 50,000 fans from across the country demanded his removal.
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