KUALA LUMPUR: Senior lawyer Datuk Seri Dr Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos says the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) must make public the full findings of an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) audit, stressing that the national body owes answers to the public.
His call is echoed by the Centre to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4 Centre), which has urged FAM to publish the AFC audit report, arguing that transparency is essential for meaningful accountability and reform following the scandal involving the falsification of naturalisation and eligibility documents for seven national football players.
Jahaberdeen, who is also a senior sports administrator, dismissed the suggestion by FAM secretary-general Datuk Noor Azman Rahman that calls for the report to be debated in Parliament could be construed as “government interference”.
Noor Azman was responding to Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh, who said the audit should be made public and that he intended to raise the matter in the Dewan Rakyat during the upcoming sitting. Noor Azman was also quoted as saying that only the AFC could disclose the full audit.
“FAM is accountable to the government as it has received millions of ringgit in funding from Putrajaya over the years. It has accepted public funds and therefore owes an explanation as to how the money was utilised. Surely that is something that would be covered in the audit report,” Jahaberdeen said.
“FAM has taken the people’s money and is answerable to the people as well.”
Jahaberdeen pointed out that it was FAM that invited the AFC to conduct the audit.
“Therefore, the AFC does not have the right to release the full findings. The report belongs to FAM. If it does not wish to release the full audit report, then it should take responsibility for that decision and say so,” he said.
“It should not try to hide behind the AFC.”
On Ramkarpal’s call to make the full findings public and for the matter to be discussed in Parliament, Jahaberdeen said he was simply doing what any responsible MP would.
“Firstly, he is only an MP. He is not part of the government because he does not sit in the Cabinet. Therefore, his call cannot be construed as government interference. He is merely asking for accountability, which is his right,” he said.
“Moreover, if the report is discussed in Parliament, that would also not amount to government interference. That is good governance.”
Supporting the call for disclosure, C4’s head of research and policy advocacy, Arief Hamizan, said Noor Azman’s argument that releasing the audit report could create the perception of “external interference” mischaracterises the role of transparency in sports governance.
“As the national football governing body, FAM’s governance is not strictly an internal matter to be resolved behind closed doors. There is a clear public interest element, and therefore members of the public deserve to know what the AFC’s findings are,” he said.
Arief said the AFC audit report should be made public to provide the level of transparency needed for meaningful accountability and institutional reform following the international scandal.
He also criticised calls to “move on” from the controversy.
“Despite many months having elapsed since news about the scandal first emerged, there has been no real accountability or commitment to reform from relevant stakeholders,” said Arief.
“How can Malaysia move on when no one has been made to answer for this international embarrassment, particularly as the scandal implicates the national citizenship registration mechanism?” he said.
“If FAM intends to implement holistic structural reforms to prevent the repetition of incidents like this, public disclosure of the AFC’s audit report should be a non-negotiable first step towards upholding accountability.”
Fifa’s rules on third-party interference require all national member associations to manage their affairs independently, free from political, judicial or external executive influence.
Codified primarily under Articles 14, 15 and 19 of the Fifa Statutes, the regulations prohibit governments from usurping the decision-making powers of national football associations.
Fifa’s non-interference rules primarily cover five areas:
- The independent election of football officials.
- Protection against the dissolution or takeover of football associations by governments.
- The appointment of national team coaches and personnel.
- The autonomy of football’s judicial and dispute-resolution processes.
- Governance structures that allow football associations to operate independently of state control.
However, parliamentary scrutiny, public accountability and oversight of public funding do not, in themselves, constitute government interference.
Fifa’s statutes do not prevent governments from investigating alleged criminal conduct, including fraud or document forgery.
Governments can also legislate independent statutory regulators to oversee financial sustainability across a domestic league, provided the regulator does not usurp a football association’s core administrative powers.
The debate over transparency intensified after the AFC last week revealed a series of damning findings from its audit of FAM, which, among other things, found that the national body received low scores in governance, finance, risk management and administrative functions.
The AFC stepped in to conduct the audit after FAM’s previous executive committee quit on Jan 28 following the doctored documents scandal involving seven Harimau Malaya footballers.
FAM lodged a police report on Dec 24, 2025, over allegations of document forgery involving the players. The move was in line with the recommendation of the Independent Investigation Committee (IIC) chaired by former Chief Justice Tun Md Raus Sharif.
There have been no updates from the police since.
