IPOH, Oct 11 — The FA of Perak (Pafa) has lifted its suspensions on the state squad’s players and officials with immediate effect after finding there had been no serious elements of sabotage during their Malaysia Cup campaign this season.
Its president Datuk Zainol Fadzi Paharuddin said Pafa’s executive committee arrived at the decision after evaluating the report submitted by a special committee headed by Datuk Ismail Saffian that was tasked to probe the team’s dismal performance in the Malaysia Cup.
“Based on the committee’s report, Pafa found there were no elements of sabotage that could be deemed serious.
“Thus Pafa concluded that the team’s poor run during their final three matches in their Malaysia Cup campaign could have been due to other factors which could not be categorised as sabotage,” he told reporters after the executive committee’s meeting here today.
He said with the suspensions on the players and officials lifted, Pafa hoped the team “would get back on track”.
However, he said elements of corruption suspected in the team were still being probed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the police.
He said this was outside the purview of Pafa and that the FA had to wait for the outcome of the investigations.
“If they are cleared it will show there is integrity in the team which indirectly will increase the players and officials market value,” he said.
On speculation that 80 per cent of the players would be leaving the team, he said what had happened was that there had been over-sensationalisation on the state of affairs in the team.
On September 23, Pafa suspended all the team’s officials and players indefinitely after suspecting there had been elements of sabotage and corruption during their campaign in this season’s Malaysia Cup.
The FA had also lodged reports with the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over the suspicions. — Bernama
