Alleged AFC cover-up effort highlights problems in Asian football

A senior executive of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) allegedly requested in 2012 a subordinate to tamper with or hide documents related to inquiries by independent auditors and FIFA into management of the group by ousted AFC President Mohammed Bin Hammam, according to claims.

The official who reportedly requested the tampering or hiding of documents bearing his name or signature, AFC General-Secretary Dato' Alex Soosay, subsequently alleged in a police report on Aug 17, 2012, that Bin Hammam embezzled some $10 million, the Malaysian Commercial Crime Investigation Department (JSJK) told the Malay Mail. The police handed the case over to the Malaysian attorney general who decided not to take further action. 

Soosay this week vehemently denied the alleged cover up in a telephone conversation with the Malay Mail as he was boarding a flight from Dubai to Bahrain. "If there was something, wouldn't they have investigated me? This is just a smear [campaign] against me. There is no such thing," Soosay said. "Where is this coming from and why now?" 

In a written and signed statement dated July 26, 2012 and a video statement taped the same day by Michael John Pride, a FIFA security officer, AFC Finance Director Bryan Kuan Wee Hoong claimed that Soosay made his request during a 30-minute conversation that took place three days earlier on July 23 to which he had been summoned by the general secretary.

In a letter to Soosay dated Sept. 27, 2012, Bin Hammam's lawyer, Eugene Gulland of law firm Covington & Burling LLP, asserted that the general secretary had a conflict of interest as a result of a PriceWaterhouseCoooper investigation into the matter and demanded that he excuse himself from any involvement in the investigation of Bin...