The Adjudicatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee has opened proceedings against Worawi Makudi, former President of the Thai FA (FAT) and a former FIFA Executive Committee member. Last week, the Investigatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee recommended that Makudi be banned for ‘no less than four years’ for various breaches of the FIFA Code of Ethics due to modifications of the FAT Statutes not approved by the FAT Congress. The Adjudicatory Chamber will make a decision based on the Investigatory Chamber’s report into the alleged offences, and will also hear evidence from Makudi.

It is unclear from FIFA’s statements exactly what Makudi has been accused of. His charges are: ‘violation of the general rules of conduct (Art. 13 pars 1 to 3 of the FIFA Code of Ethics (FCE)), loyalty (Art. 15 FCE), forgery and falsification (art. 17 FCE), and the obligation of the parties to collaborate (art. 41 FCE)’. In February 2015, he was suspended by FIFA for 90 days; he was later banned for three months for failing to comply with this order.

Makudi had been a FIFA Executive Committee member since 1997. In July last year, ESPN reported that he was given a suspended jail sentence for forgery during his 2013 re-election to lead the FAT. In May 2011, Lord Triesman gave evidence in the UK Parliament that Makudi had attempted to arrange a Thailand v. England friendly during the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups, and had insisted that the TV rights to such a game would go to him.