The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee of FIFA on Thursday sanctioned five individuals as a result of their conduct whilst serving as officials of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), including Senior Vice-President Abdus Salam Murshedy.
The global governing body of football in a statement on its website said that the individual grounds of the decisions were notified to the respective parties. The sanctions came into force on Thursday.
In the statement, FIFA said that Murshedy, also the chairman of the BFF Finance Committee, has been ordered to pay a fine amounting to CHF 10,000 (more than Tk 12 lakh) for breaching Article 14 (general duties) of the FIFA Code of Ethics.
Former BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag has been banned from taking part in any football-related activity for three years and ordered to pay a fine amounting to CHF 20,000 (more than Tk 25 lakh) for breaching Article 14 (General duties), Article 16 (Duty of loyalty) and Article 25 (Forgery and falsification) of the FIFA Code of Ethics.
For breaching the same articles of the Code of Ethics as Shohag, FIFA also sanctioned the former chief financial officer of BFF Abu Hossain and Mizanur Rahman, the former BFF operations manager. Both have been banned from taking part in any football-related activity for two years and ordered to pay individual fines amounting to CHF 10,000 (more than Tk 12 lakh).
Imrul Hasan Sharif, the procurement and store officer of BFF, has also been ordered by the Ethics Committee to undergo compliance training provided by FIFA and issued with a warning with respect to his future conduct for breaching Article 14 (general duties) of the FIFA Code of Ethics.
The FIFA statement read, “The decisions were taken following separate hearings and upon careful analysis, in each of the applicable proceedings, of both the evidence provided before the adjudicatory chamber and the evidence collected during the investigations conducted by the investigatory chamber.
“The adjudicatory chamber was comfortably satisfied that the above individuals were involved with and/or participated in a number of transactions supported with false and/or falsified documentation, which were paid, or expected to be paid, with FIFA funds.”
In 2023, Shohag was also sanctioned with a two-year ban from all football-related activities and ordered to pay a fine of CHF 10,000 for having used false and/or falsified documents to justify payments made by BFF with FIFA funds.
Following FIFA sanctions imposed last year, BFF also imposed a lifetime ban on Shohag and terminated Abu Hossain and Mizanur Rahman.
