Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) President Kazi Salahuddin has been accused of embezzling money with the help of an Indian company. It is said that the money was embezzled with the help of an Indian company by showing false expenses of $ 2 lakh 90 thousand (Taka 3 crore 48,000) for the rental of telecasting equipment of the tournament.
BFE is immersed in corruption, nepotism, irregularities and commission trading. Football in the country has lost its reputation due to few officials including president Kazi Salahuddin and head of women wing Mahfuza Akhtar Kiron.
The country's football lost its heritage during the one and a half era of Salahuddin. Now waiting for the final nail in the coffin. FIFA has banned BFF's General Secretary Abu Naeem Sohag for four years for financial irregularities.
Former senior vice-president Abdus Salam Murshedi, who recently resigned, has been fined Tk 10 lakh by FIFA.
Two famous former footballers of the national team, Shamsul Alam Manju and the late Badal Roy, have sent a complaint to FIFA highlighting the irregularities of BFF. Two complaint letters signed by Shamsul Alam Manju on March24 and April 2, 2016 have been sent to FIFA President and AFC General Secretary.
Manju sent various documents of 380 pages of BFF irregularities along with the complaint. On April 6 of that year, the then Acting General Secretary of FIFA, Marcus Curtner, acknowledged receipt of the complaint and wrote that FIFA will review the matter independently. Later on September 16, 2019, BFF's current vice-president Mohiuddin Ahmed
Mahi alleged the financial scam. On September 17, BFF's late vice-president Badal Roy directly accused Salahuddin of irregularities. That's why he didn't have to be less harassed. Salahuddin Gong harassed the former star footballer politically and with security personnel. On December 12, 2016, a letter signed by the then Director of the Prime Minister's Office, Farid Ahmed, was sent to the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
The letter was accompanied by a report of an intelligence agency. The Ministry of Youth and Sports was asked to take action based on intelligence agency reports of widespread corruption and leadership failure in BFF. But for some unknown reason, the sports ministry has not taken any action based on that report till date.
According to the report of the intelligence agency, football was once the most popular sport in Bangladesh.
The condition of football in Bangladesh is very sad now the moment. Those concerned think that the BFF president Salahuddin is responsible for the poor condition of football. Penalty of Bangladesh due to his character weakness and short-sightedness, corruption in the name of Bangabandhu Gold Cup prize money and renting of telecasting equipment for live broadcasting of Bangabandhu Gold Cup, ticket corruption of Euro football tournament by defaming the name of Prime Minister's family, joint corruption of BFF president and Mahfuza Akhtar Kiron, irregularities and corruption in meeting minutes, BFF Irregularities in depositing and withdrawing money in bank accounts, corruption in the name of football academy in Sylhet BKSP campus, financial corruption related to FIFA president's visit to Bangladesh and political upheaval are notable.
The AFC organizes the Solidarity Cup with the teams that did not get a chance in the Asian Cup qualifiers. Salahuddin decided not to play the Bangladesh team in that tournament, knowing that it would be a complete disaster. As a result of his ill-advised decision, AFC fined Bangladesh 20,000 US dollars, which has to be paid from the national treasury.
In addition, in the Bangabandhu Cup football tournament held in January that year, Nepal, Bahrain and Burundi were challenged to pay the prize money. In 2015, the budget of five crore rupees was taken to Taka 15 crore in the name of organizing the Bangabandhu Cup.
Modulus Communications, owned by Kiron pocketed huge sums of money. Corruption has emerged in the name of telecasting equipment rental for live sports broadcasting.
In 2015, Channel Nine bought the broadcast rights of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup tournament. According to the agreement, the money received from Channel Nine was embezzled by a special group led by Salahuddin.
BFF money was used to give tickets to various tournaments including the Euro and World Cup to members of the Sheikh family. Salahuddin-Kiran used to buy cheap tickets from FIFA and AFC and sell them to various traders in Bangladesh at a huge amount. Salahuddin and Mahfuza Akhtar Kiran, chairman of the women's committee, have formed a vicious circle. Abu Naeem Sohag is one of the accomplices in the corruption of both of them. Sohag, like Mahfuza Akhtar Kiran, became the owner of vast property as an associate of Kazi Salahuddin.
According to the report highlighting the irregularities in the deposit and withdrawal of money in BFF bank account, analysis of Eastern Bank and Premier Bank shows that in most cases, the deposit and withdrawal of money was done in cash.
However, as per rules, it is preferable that the transaction of an organization be done through cheque. The matter indicates irregularities and corruption in BFF transactions. It has been alleged that Salahuddin Gong has stolen crores of taka through irregular cash deposits and withdrawals.
BFF to run a football academy in Sylhet for BKSP. The National Sports Council (NSC) bought everything needed for the academy at a cost of around taka two crores. FIFA also donated $7 million (taka 84,00,000,00). But this money was confiscated by BFF.
None of BFF audit reports mention the $70,00,000 FIFA paid to run the academy. The academy was shut down after a few months in limbo. The expenditure shown by BFF from 2012-14 is unbelievable. The daily expenses of the FIFA president were shown to be Tk 90 lakh 92 thousand 774.
It is known that FIFA bears all the expenses of the president during his visit to Bangladesh. The cost information provided by BFF is incorrect. Kazi Salahuddin did not think far-reaching about the development of football in Bangladesh. He does stunts.
In 2011, he brought Argentine footballer Lionel Messi to Bangladesh and tried to create an atmosphere that Bangladeshi football was entering a global platform. Sensational information has been found about the disappearance of Tk 20 crores given to BFF by the government. Even though the fixed deposit was calculated in Lanka-Bangla Finance, the money was withdrawn by breaking the fixed deposit within a year.
The Ministry of Finance allocated Tk 20 crore to BFF for the development of football throughout the country in the financial year 2019-2020.
It was said, 'For the formation of funds for the long-term development of football, Tk 20 crore has been given as a one-time government grant to BFF in the financial year 2019-20 under the sanction of sports organizations of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Not only for conducting any specific activities by BFF in the financial year 2019-20, but if the money of this fund is invested, the profit earned from it should be spent for various development of football. However, BFF has squandered all the taka 20 crore allocated by the Ministry of Finance. There is no trace of this money in BFF audit report. The BFF submitted its accounts to the Ministry of Youth and Sports without spending Tk 10 crore of the first installment of the budget allocation given by the government in 2020.
The statement was signed by Kazi Salauddin, senior vice-president Abdus Salam Murshedi and former General Secretary Abu Naim Sohag, banned for embezzlement. The statement of expenditure of Tk 10 crore submitted by BFF to Ministry of Youth and Sports is nothing at all. The most alarming information is that the information about depositing taka 50 lakh for income tax to the revenue department of the government is in the account statement. But BFF has not deposited a single taka for tax.
Without submitting the bill-voucher, BFF officials continued to withdraw the remaining taka 10 crore . They also held several meetings with the Minister of State for Youth and Sports. The State Minister for Sports wrote to the Finance Ministry to release the remaining Tk 10 crore of the budget in favor of BFF.
There is no precedent for asking for further installments until a full statement of expenditure is received. Officials of the Ministry of Youth and Sports may have forgotten about this condition of government funding. On the request of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Finance also waived Tk 10 crore of the second installment.
BFF then gave a bond to the NSC, Tk 10 crore of the second installment will be kept as fixed deposit. The dividend from that fixed deposit will be spent on football development. But the opposite happened. On September 5, 2020, a one-year fixed deposit of Tk 9 crore out of Tk 10 crore was placed in Lanka-Bangla Finance.
BFF shows the remaining taka one crore. By the end of the year (September 7, 2021), BFF broke the fixed deposit. Not only that, the federation took several rounds of loans against the deposit of taka nine crores. As a result, at the end of the period, the dividend was far from being realised, and the BFF became responsible for securing the principal amount. Despite the government funds being frozen nearly two years ago, the matter remained shrouded in secrecy. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has written to BFF President Salahuddin, seeking crucial information on various irregularities and corruption. The ACC initiated an investigation on 30 January 2022 against Kazi Salahuddin, Kiron, and Chief Finance Officer Abu Hossain on charges of misappropriation of funds through various irregularities and corruption. However, that report has yet to see the light of day.
De Cruyff and Rene Koster, two former Dutch coaches, were owed €90,000 (Taka 1,19,54,700). However, the president allegedly embezzled Taka 25,00,000 by using their names. Salahuddin, Kiron, and Sohag pocketed Tk 25 lakh meant for the income tax of British coach Jamie Der and Tk 1 crore of Paul Smalley without submitting it to the revenue department.
A search at Kiron's HSBC Bank Motijheel branch (Account No. 001.064.740001) is expected to reveal a horrifying picture of corruption. Salahuddin has been accused of accepting a bribe of approximately five million dollars in exchange for supporting Qatar in the 2022 World Cup venue bidding. Salahuddin wields influence as the president of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). Additionally, funds intended for a stadium project in Bangladesh, to be built by Spain, were allegedly misappropriated by Salahuddin.
In the name of football development, Salahuddin also signed an agreement with Russia. Subsequently, Salahuddin's daughter Sarazin and son-in-law Alex engaged in various business activities. Sarazin's Vietnamese company had contracted to supply software to the Ministry of Power and Energy. However, without providing the software, Sarazin withdrew approximately Taka 100 crore. Salahuddin's faction took a commission of around Tk 25 crore in exchange for securing a contract for South Korea's Hyundai Company to build a specialised hospital adjacent to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital. Bangladesh received $500,000 (Taka six crore) by joining the AFC football alliance led by Saudi Arabia. However, that money was not deposited in the BFF.
On 29 October 2022, Salahuddin passed a budget of Taka 34 crores within a minute, suppressing the voices of the councillors at the BFF AGM. Salahuddin and Kiron pocketed a 15 per cent commission of the sponsorship income. They also pocketed Tk 18 lakh owed to BFF camp commander Abdus Sadek. Abdus Sadek filed a case in 2019 in Dhaka's fifth joint district judge's court.
In May 2015, Salahuddin attended the FIFA Congress, accompanied by then vice-president and former sports deputy minister Arif Khan Joy, former General Secretary Abu Naeem Sohag (expelled by FIFA), and former chairman of the medical committee of BFF, Awlad Farooq Reza, who was shown as the delegate coordinator. Salim Uddin later stayed in Switzerland. At that time, it was known that BFF officials had taken Taka 10 lakh from Selim for smuggling to Switzerland. In 2011, Apan Communication obtained the rights to sell practice tickets for the Argentina-Nigeria friendly match in Dhaka. After providing a bank guarantee of Taka 15,00,000, the company later withdrew the guarantee. The complaint was that there was an exchange of Taka 50 lakh between BFF and Apan Communication.
