By Mark Baber
July 3 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeal filed by Virach Chanpanich against the decision taken on 17 October 2013 by the Football Association of Thailand to elect the controversial Worawi Makudi as its President.
Chanpanich and Makudi were both candidates for the long-delayed, bitterly fought and continuingly acrimonious presidential election. After Makudi obtained 42 votes and Chanpanich 28 votes, Chanpanich challenged the validity of the election before the CAS, alleging a number of irregularities.
According to CAS, the hearing, which was held 25-26 March 2014, heard a record of 26 witnesses.
The appeal was dismissed “considering that the irregularities alleged by Mr Chanpanich either did not exist in the light of the facts of the case or were not supported by evidence.”
CAS added that “the Panel was satisfied that the process conducted before the Electoral Committee and the Electoral Appeal Committee was not affected by the absence of procedural fairness.”
The full award, with the grounds, will be published in a few days. The decision will be regarded as a major triumph by Makudi who is no stranger to controversy or legal action, having himself failed in an attempt to sue the former Chairman of the English Football Association, Lord Triesman, who had used Parliamentary privilege to accuse him of corruption.
Makudi has been president of the Football Association of Thailand since 2007, with the 2013 election marking the start of his fourth consecutive term. Although he recently failed in a bid to win the presidency of the Asian Football Confederation, he is a member of FIFA’s Executive Committee.
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