ALOR SETAR, Nov 18 — The Kedah Football Association (KFA) has been challenged to lodge a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Royal Malaysian Police over allegations of misconduct by the previous management.
Former KFA honorary secretary Mohd Asmirul Anuar Aris said he has no problems being called to provide statements to any party about the allegations that were brought up during the Kedah state legislative assembly sitting yesterday.
“I challenge them to lodge a report with MACC and the police if that is what they want. If there is a problem (in the KFA management), then it’s best to report. Because we uphold and stand up for integrity as what was said yesterday was more towards slander.
“The administration of KFA is not something that can be handled alone by any one individual. We have a committee, so it isn’t easy to embezzle, plus there are external auditors who monitor constantly. In addition, there are members who are from the MACC and the police,” he said in a media conference after the Kedah legislative assembly sitting today.
During a question and answer session at the assembly sitting yesterday, state Tourism, Arts and Culture, Youth and Sports, Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative Committee chairman Mohd Firdaus Ahmad was reported to have said that there was a possibility that a criminal breach of trust happened in the previous KFA administration.
This happened after doubts were raised about the association’s management, including the deduction of players’ salaries for payments to the Inland Revenue Board, which was not done.
Elaborating further, Mohd Asmirul Anuar, who is also Kubang Rotan assemblyman, said he was unaware of the matter because he only signed cheques while other matters were handled by other individuals in the KFA management.
Regarding questions about the total funds collected to cover the legal fees of a player who had transferred to another team, he said the initial target was RM50,000, but they only successfully collected RM10,000.
“The target was to cover the cost of legal fees of over RM100,000 but the collection did not reach it. The collection was also directly deposited into the KFA account, so there should not be any doubts whether the funds were misused by any party.
“Regarding the statement by former KFA president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir last year that RM50,000 had been used, there might be some misunderstanding when the statement was issued,” he said.
Mohd Asmirul Anuar said that where the issue of excess merchandise was concerned, items such as umbrellas, jerseys and water bottles were supposed to be given to season ticket buyers, but they could not be distributed as stadiums have been devoid of spectators due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The issue of jerseys being overstocked that was stated in the assembly sitting yesterday happened because several competitions, including the President’s Cup, Youth Cup and Women’s Cup were cancelled, resulting in printed jerseys not being sold,” he said. — Bernama
