By Andrew Warshaw
May 13 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), whose leader insisted only two weeks ago was entering a new era of transparency and unity, has been plunged into fresh crisis after its number two official was suspended pending an internal investigation into reports he asked for incriminatory evidence against him to be removed.
In a brief statement carried by Reuters, the AFC announced that general secretary Dato’ Alex Soosay had been temporarily removed from office and that deputy general secretary Windsor John would replace the long-serving Malaysian on an interim basis while the probe was carried out.
Late last month, Soosay conducted proceedings at the AFC Congress, alongside AFC president Sheik Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, as if nothing had happened despite being at the centre of potentially damaging cover-up allegations.
Only a few days before delegates from the AFC’s 47 member nations convened in Bahrain, the Malay Mail newspaper devoted its first three pages to claims that Soosay had asked for any incriminatory evidence against him during the 2012 probe into the conduct of his one-time boss, Mohamed bin Hammam, to be removed.
The paper said it had obtained a video interview from July 2012 in which AFC financial director Bryan Kuan Wee Hong told a FIFA investigator Soosay had come to him to help cover up what had been going on under bin Hammam who was banned from football for life by FIFA that year for repeated violations of its code of ethics.
The report could hardly have come at a more delicate time for Soosay with congress looming. But despite the awkwardness of the occasion he was spared any further embarrassment with no mention made of the case in public as Salman declared his confederation was “closer than ever”, built on a sense of solidarity and unity.
Whilst the AFC administration would doubtless argue that it is doing the transparent thing by looking into the latest claims rather than sweeping them under the table, and that the claims occurred prior to Salman taking over, Soosay was at pains straight after the congress to stress he had nothing to fear and that accusations he ordered documents to be hidden were taken out of context and would not affect his position.
“It’s been a bit of a disturbing time I have to admit but I have the full support of my colleagues,” he told Insideworldfootball at the time. “I don’t see there is any issue because the case has already been dealt with. We know who leaked the information but there’s nothing to worry about.”
Should the AFC now determine that Soosay is guilty of breaking any rules, however, it would constitute yet another unwanted scandal just at the time when the region is trying to promote itself in a more positive light with a number of influential new voices joining FIFA’s executive committee.
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