‘Appeal hearings could be conducted via Skype’
of Malaysia (BAM) honorary secretary Datuk Ng Chin Chai disclosed that the appeal hearings of disgraced shuttlers Zulfadli Zulkiffli and Tan Chun Seang could be done via Skype if agreed upon by the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) threemember panel.
Chin Chai, who was part of an independent hearing panel in 2013 (Thailand’s Bodin Issara and Maneepong Jongjit for court altercation), said the case then was deliberated via Skype.
“I am not confirming that this will be the case, but there is a possibility, we don’t know.
“When I was part of the panel that heard the cases of Bodin and Maneepong in 2013, it was via Skype.
“Either way, we will be kept on the loop. We also have the right to send in a representative to observe the hearing process,” said Chin Chai in Bangkok yesterday.
Chin Chai, also confirmed that Zulfadli and Chun Seang — banned 20 and 15 years respectively for match fixing as well as slapped with fines of US$25,000 (RM98,000) and US$15,000 (RM59,000) — had filed their appeals with BWF before Monday’s deadline.
On May 2, Zulfadli and Chun Seang were found guilty by a three-member independent Ethics Hearing Panel consisting of James Kitching, Sylvia Schenk and Annabel Pennefather.
It was revealed that Zulfadli and Chun Seang were found to have committed match-fixing in six tournaments: London Open GP Gold (2013), Dutch Open GP (2013), Korea Open GP Gold (2014), Macau Open GP (2014), US Open GP (2014) and Brazil Open GP Gold (2016).
Extracted WhatsApp messages (mainly in Bahasa Malaysia) between the two shuttlers (from Sept 27, 2013, to Dec 12, 2014) were used as the main evidence against them.
The panel found that Chun Seang had committed 26 violations of the 2012 Code of Conduct in Relation to Betting Wagering and Irregular Match Results while Zulfadli committed 27 violations of the 2012 Code of Conduct in Relation to Betting Wagering and Irregular Match Results and four violations of the 2016 Code of Conduct in Relation to Betting Wagering and Irregular Match Results.