Thailand FA president receives suspended 1-year jail term

Longtime president Worawi Makudi, along with Thai Premier League President Ong-Art Kosingkha, were convicted of “falsifying documents” relating to his controversial re-election as president of the Thai Football Association in 2013, according to Thai PBS.

The suit filed by Pattaya FC president Nathaphon Panyakananukul accused Mr Worawi and Mr Ong-art of making changes to the FAT regulations which were approved by the organisation’s members before submitting it to a registrar at the Local Administration Department, which oversees all associations in Thailand, between August 23 and October 14, 2013.

The court yesterday found the pair guilty of document forgery ahead of the 2013 FAT election.

The court later reduced the sentence to one year and four months and fined them B4,000, saying their testimonies were deemed useful.

Worawi’s election win by a 42-24 vote was previously challenged at the Court of Arbitration for Sport by the losing candidate, Virach Chanpanich.

They ruled last July, however, that “irregularities alleged by Mr. Chanpanich either did not exist…or were not supported by evidence”.

Worawi has just lost his Federation Internationale de Football Association EXCO positions in the latetst AFC Ordinary Congress held in Bahrain after keeping hold of it for 13 years.

He was reportedly under investigation by FIFA’s Ethics Committee for his conduct during the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests, although this never been confirmed.

FIFA’s Ethics Committee had investigated Worawi in 2011 over allegations that more than $800,000 (£512,000/€732,000) of development money was spent on projects built on land he owned near Bangkok.

That case was closed after FIFA accepted documents showing Worawi donated the land to the Thai football body.

However, Worawi Makudi has clearly stated that he is innocent and will file an appeal against the verdicts.