FIFA Halts Thai Development to Look Into Real Estate Conflict Allegation
Soccer’s governing body stopped work on a development program in Thailand as it looks into allegations that the head of the country’s soccer federation owns land where FIFA-funded facilities have been built.
Media reports in Thailand, Switzerland and Germany alleged that Worawi Makudi, who sits on FIFA’s decision-making body, has benefited from two grants from the Goal program, which total about $870,000. Makudi rejected claims that he owns the land near Bangkok, saying said he donated it to the Football Association of Thailand.
The federation sought funding for a new project, which FIFA approved in October last year.
“This project has not started yet and will not start before FIFA gets a proper legal confirmation that the land of the Nong Chok complex belongs to the Thailand F.A. and not to Mr. Makudi,” the Zurich-based organization said in an e-mailed statement. “Documents of land registration have been provided recently by Mr. Makudi to FIFA and are currently legally under revision.”
Makudi didn’t travel to Zurich last week when the FIFA executive met to discuss plans to reform the organization following a slew of corruption scandals involving top-ranked officials. FIFA said Makudi couldn’t make the meeting because of severe flooding that’s affected Thailand. The organization hasn’t opened misconduct investigations into him.
The governing body’s ethics committee has already looked at allegations of vote buying for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and June’s presidential election. Sepp Blatter was elected to a fourth term when his sole challenger Mohamed Bin Hammam quit after being accused of trying to bribe voters. He’s now fighting a life ban from the sport issued to him July following an investigation led by former U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation chief Louis Freeh.
In the past year, half of FIFA’s executive committee has either been accused of wrongdoing, quit or been punished for breaching ethics rules. The organization has promised to release a document in December that names officials that took bribes from a former marketing partner that collapsed into bankruptcy in 2001.
To contact the reporters on this story: Tariq Panja in London on at tpanja@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net
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