For most football fans in Singapore, listing the dietary habits of Ronaldo and Messi would be easier than naming all the clubs in the Singapore Premier League.
That’s because most of us football fanatics aren’t too interested in the local soccer leagues.
Now, however, many residents have taken an interest in a few football clubs, but not for the reasons you think.
Alleged Misuse of Funds
It all started with a police report.
In 2017, SportSG – the local sports governing body – lodged a police report against Tiong Bahru Football Club for two reasons:
- Suspected misuse of club funds
- Alleged attempt by a senior club official to obstruct the completion of audits of some former S.League clubs
This led to police raids at the offices of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and three local football clubs that year.
In April 2017, SportSG said it received a tip-off alleging that a senior Tiong Bahru FC official had, with false reasons, instigated another club to delay or obstruct the completion of audits until after the FAS elections that year were over.
SportSG added that it received information which raised “serious questions” about a S$500,000 donation by Tiong Bahru FC to the Asean Football Federation.
Later, several individuals associated with the association were arrested, including:
- Zainudin Nordin, former FAS president and former Member of Parliament (MP)
- Winston Lee, FAS general secretary
- Bill Ng, Hougang United chairman
- Bonnie Wong, Bill Ng’s wife
AGC to Review Investigation Findings
Now, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) is reviewing findings by the Commercial Affairs Department into the alleged corruption.
The 2017 incident was thrust back into the spotlight after Workers’ Party MP Sylvia Lim
asked Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam about the status and outcome of the police investigations into SportSG’s report.
Mr Shanmugam said that beyond the AGC’s review, “it is not appropriate to comment further at this point”.
Four Charged Last Year With Cheating FAS
This isn’t the first time that the association has hit the headlines for internal financial issues.
Last year, four individuals were charged with cheating the FAS:
- Rikram Jit Singh Randhir Singh, a former deputy director of the FAS
- Asya Kirin Kames, director of All Resource Network (ARN) and Rikram’s wife
- Shankar Suppiah, another director at ARN
- Pallaniappan Ravindran, director at Myriad Sports & Events
On 9 December 2020, the four individuals were charged with conspiring to cheat the FAS of more than S$639,480.
The couple is facing 45 cheating charges each. If convicted, they could be jailed up to 10 years and fined.
The other two offenders, Shankar Suppiah and Pallaniappan Ravindran, were charged with 37 and 15 counts of cheating respectively.
Feature Image: Google Maps
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