News 16 November 2015

FIFA bans head of Nepal & Laos FAs for accepting bribes

The Adjudicatory Chamber of the Independent FIFA Ethics Committee has banned Ganesh Thapa, President of the All-Nepal Football Association (ANFA) for ten years and Viphet Sihachakr, President of the Lao Football Federation (LFF) for two years for accepting bribes. During the 2009 and 2011 elections for the FIFA Executive Committee at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Congress, FIFA’s Ethics Committee found that Thapa had ‘committed various acts of misconduct over several years, including the solicitation and acceptance of cash payments from another football official, for both personal and family gain’.

At the same AFC Congress, the Ethics Committee found that Sihachakr had ‘solicited and accepted a payment from another football official’. Thapa was fined CHF20,000 (€18,500) and Sihachakr CHF40,000 (€37,000).

As reported by the Sports Integrity Initiative in March, Thapa also faces an investigation ordered by Nepal’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which in 2014 asked the Sports Ministry and money laundering department to investigate allegations that Thapa had been involved in the embezzlement of ANFA funds. The report has yet to be published.

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