FAS election still on for April 29

Barely 24 hours after it was raided by authorities, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) headquarters at Jalan Besar Stadium was the setting for a high-level meeting last night.

K. Bala Chandran, chairman of the ad hoc electoral committee (EC) ahead of FAS' first election next Saturday, met with Lim Teck Yin, the chief executive officer of national sports governing body Sport Singapore (SportSG).

The purpose of the meeting, which lasted under an hour, was for SportSG to present findings which led it to lodge a police report over suspected misuse of funds at amateur club Tiong Bahru Football Club.

Bill Ng, who helms Tiong Bahru, is running for the FAS presidency against Lim Kia Tong, a former FAS vice-president.

After last night's meeting, Bala told The New Paper the election is still on course.

He said: "No, there's no change at all.

"As it stands, the dates have been fixed, and the EC has no powers to cancel or postpone the elections.

"(A postponement) might only happen if the FAS Council, or (global football body) Fifa step in."

After SportSG made a police report on Wednesday night, the authorities' probe started with raids on the FAS office and three football clubs linked to Ng - Tiong Bahru, Woodlands Wellington and Hougang United.

DOCUMENTS

Officers from the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) carted away documents and computers from the location.

Ng has been embroiled in a public war of words with FAS general secretary Winston Lee, following claims made last week that he had donated $500,000 of Tiong Bahru's money to FAS.

Ng stated he had no idea where the money went.

But Lee later produced documentary evidence that revealed Ng knew the money went to the Asean Football Federation (AFF) for the construction of a football management system portal.

The letter and cheques produced by the FAS general secretary showed former FAS president Zainudin Nordin's involvement in the matter.

Zainudin, who stepped down as FAS president last November, had repeatedly refused to speak to the media when approached, saying he would not comment as he was not contesting the election.

But he was summoned by the CAD for questioning, after recent revelations suggested his relationship with Ng went deeper than initially thought.

For one, Zainudin was listed as a director at ESW Manage, where Ng is an investor.

Zainudin is also listed as a chairman of Tiong Bahru's general committee.

TNP understands that Zainudin was originally slated to become Tiong Bahru chairman after stepping down as FAS president in November last year, but did not take up the appointment because he had accepted the post of deputy director at ITE College East.

When asked to comment on Ng's relationship with Zainudin, Ng's spokesman Jose Raymond said: "It is premature at this point for Mr Bill Ng to comment on any matters pertaining to the queries by the Commercial Affairs Division, which began on April 20.

"As previously stated, Mr Ng will be fully cooperating with the relevant authorities throughout.

"We thank you for your understanding in this matter."

Aside from Zainudin, several other individuals have also been called up by the CAD.

Among them are Lee, Hougang general manager Matthew Tay, Ng and his wife Bonnie Wong, who is listed as majority shareholder of a company that is landlord of Tiong Bahru's clubhouse at the basement of People's Park Centre.