By Andrew Warshaw
October 12 – Former executive committee member Worawi Makudi has become the latest victim of FIFA’s anti-corruption crackdown after being suspended for 90 days by the ethics committee pending a full investigation.
Along with Spain’s Angel Villar Llona, Makudi has long been regarded by observers as one of those who somehow got away amidst the spate of sanctions handed down over months and years.
But the Thai FA president has now been added to the list of present and past powerbrokers to fall foul of the ethics code.
“The decision was taken… on the grounds that a breach of the Code of Ethics appears to have been committed and a decision on the main issue may not be taken early enough,” said a somewhat cryptic ethics committee statement. “The case is now the subject of formal investigation proceedings.”
Makudi spent 18 years as an Asian delegate to the FIFA exco until losing his place earlier this year. The statement from the ethics committee did not give specific details of the ban, as per the usual rules. It may have been for a variety of reasons including being linked with the 2018-2022 World Cup bid process or a criminal court conviction in his homeland.
Makudi, 63, lost his place as Asia’s east zone FIFA exco member to Malaysia’s Prince Abdullah when he received only 13 votes compared with Prince Abdullah’s 25. In July, he was sentenced to a suspended 16-month jail term after being found to have falsified documents during the 2013 ballot that saw him re-elected as Thai FA boss.
Yet at FIFA he has always managed to escaped censure – until now.
More recently, a last-ditch attempt to regain some kind of foothold within global or Asian football failed after he withdrew from the election for the presidency of the 12-member Asean Football Federation (AFF) on the eve of the vote.
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