Singapore FA raided in white-collar crime probe
SINGAPORE: Police on Thursday raided the offices of the citystate’s football governing body, which is in the throes of a leadership struggle ahead of a Fifaordered election.
At least six investigators from the city state’s white collar crime unit entered the offices of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) at 5.30pm, where they were seen speaking to staff and going through documents.
Officers spent almost eight hours at the FAS offices before carting off 18 boxes of documents.
Similar raids also took place in the clubhouses of three local football clubs, where workers were led away by detectives.
The city-state’s football fraternity had been locked in a two-way leadership tussle.
Accusations of financial mismanagement had been levelled at Bill Ng, who chaired the Tiong Bahru Football Club, after news emerged last week of the club donating S$500,000 (RM1.54 million) to the Asean Football Federation between 2014 and 2015 through the FAS.
News of the donation drew criticism from fans and commentators, who questioned why funds were going to a foreign entity instead of supporting the beleaguered local league.
The Tiong Bahru clubhouse was among those raided on Thursday. The raid came after Singap ore’s sp or ts governing body this week filed a police report against a “senior official” for obstructing an audit and for “suspected misuse of Tiong Bahru Football Club’s funds”.
The FAS, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, is due to have its inaugural leadership elections this weekend.
Council members were previously appointed by the sports minister, with the FAS chief traditionally an elected member of the ruling People’s Action Party. AFP