FIFA removes ethics judge after arrest in Malaysia

THE credibility of FIFA’s reshaped ethics committee took a hit after a leading judge was arrested on suspicion of corruption in Malaysia yesterday and later removed as deputy chairman.

Sundra Rajoo has been taken off cases while under investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for financial wrongdoing in his job leading an arbitration service.

“(Rajoo) will not be involved in any further activities of the adjudicatory chamber (while under investigation),” FIFA said.

The decision was imposed “with immediate effect” by judging panel chairman Vassilios Skouris, its statement said.

Skouris was picked 18 months ago to replace German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, whose ouster was engineered by FIFA President Gianni Infantino after falling out of favor with the new leadership. FIFA’s lead ethics prosecutor, Cornel Borbely, was also forced out in May 2017.

One year ago, Rajoo passed an integrity check to be appointed as one of two deputy chairmen of the judging panel. He was proposed by the Asian Football Confederation, based in Kuala Lumpur, along with the Asian International Arbitration Centre, led by Rajoo.

Rajoo resigned from his position with the arbitration service yesterday, his lawyer, Cheow Wee, said, adding that his client had been detained by the MACC after returning from FIFA business in Zurich the previous evening. A court refused a request for a seven-day remand order against Rajoo, and he was later released unconditionally.

“The judge agreed with our position that he (Rajoo) has diplomatic immunity and privileges. He cannot be arrested nor detained, and isn’t subjected to our criminal jurisdiction.”

The MACC sought Rajoo’s remand to protect and continue its investigation into allegations the ethics judge accepted and used his office for financial favors.

Since Rajoo joined FIFA, ethics judges have passed several life bans on soccer officials implicated in bribery by a sprawling US Department of Justice probe.

The FIFA ethics committee has struggled to gain credibility and demonstrate its statutory independence since wholesale changes in personnel in 2017. While Skouris is a former president of the European Court of Justice, FIFA lead prosecutor Maria Claudia Rojas has been criticized in a European lawmakers’ report for lacking experience in leading investigations.

In the May 2017 changes, Infantino also directed the removal of the head of FIFA’s governance panel, who oversaw integrity checks on senior officials.