Banned Football Federation GS Shohag to appeal against FIFA's 'biased and targeted' decision

The Bangladesh Football Federation's (BFF) General Secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag has been handed a two-year ban after using "false and/or falsified documents" to justify payments made by the BFF with FIFA funds, according to a FIFA media release on Friday.  

Shohag, also a former member of the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber, will have to pay a fine of TK 12 lakh (10,000 CHF).

The FIFA's official website attached a 51-page PDF of the verdict as well with the media release, describing the notifications of the grounds of the decision. 

The FIFA specifically mentioned that in his position as General Secretary of the BFF, Shohag misused FIFA Forward funds and negligently allowed the use of forged or falsified documents to support the transactions of the BFF paid with FIFA funds.

But as per a statement given by the law firm representing him, Shohag will appeal to the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) against the FIFA's decision which he called "biased and targeted".

The statement from A Hossain & Associates on Saturday read, "The FIFA Adjudicatory Chamber of the Ethics Committee has communicated the Grounds of Decision through a Notification dated 14 April 2023. Earlier FIFA had initiated an inquiry against Mr. Abu Nayeem Shohag, General Secretary,
Bangladesh Football Federation ("BFF") for possible conducts in violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics."

"Since 2018, FIFA has been auditing and monitoring financial transactions of BFF and all FIFA expenditures have been incurred by BFF upon obtaining express approval from FIFA. The procedure is that BFF applies for release of FIFA funds for expenditures relating to football, FIFA
reviews the application(s) and all documents (including quotations), thereafter only after approval from FIFA, the funds are released to BFF and thereafter the expenditures are incurred. In the instant case, the exact procedure was followed and all the quotations were sent to FIFA and only upon receiving their approval, the fund was released by FIFA and the expenditures were thereafter
incurred by BFF," the release read.

Shohag claimed that the BFF supplied evidence of approvals from the FIFA for each transaction but the latter didn't take them into consideration. 

"During the hearing, BFF supplied evidences of such approvals from FIFA for each of the transactions, however the Adjudicatory Chamber most illegally did not take into consideration such critical evidence and passed the decision communicated on 14 April 2023, which makes it apparent that the decision is not only erroneous and defective but also targeted and biased towards Bangladesh Football Federation."

"In the decision, the Adjudicatory Chamber held that there was no misuse of FIFA funds, and also expressly stated that that Mr. Shohag had presented a clean record, pointing out that he lacked any known precedents or previous records of any infringements of the FIFA regulations. Further, it also expressly acknowledged that there was no indication in the Final Report that iii) the services or goods ordered had not been received
that they had been paid for at a price higher than the market price or
that they could not be paid with FIFA Forwards Funds."

"It expressly stated in the Decision that there is no indication that the FIFA Forwards funds were misused or used for purposes not permitted by the applicable regulations. Similarly, there is no evidence that FIFA or the BFF was harmed or suffered any financial loss.

In addition, the FIFA Adjudicatory Chamber also expressly stated that there is nothing on file suggesting that Mr Shohag forged or falsified the quotations, but rather that he did not examine the quotations, even then based on pure speculation, by expressy avoiding material evidences, the Adjudicatory Chamber held that false and'or falsified documents were used in the BFF procurement process, which makes it apparent that the Decision Is not only erroneous and defective but also targeted and biased towards Bangladesh Football Federation."

Shohag maintained his innocence and again claimed that the FIFA "intentionally" avoided critical evidence and passed an illegal verdict.

"The Adjudicatory Chamber passed the biased and targeted decision based on pure speculation intentionally in avoidance of consideration of critical evidences submitted during thc hearing, and thereby most illegally banned Mr. Shohag for 2 (years) from football and imposed a fine of CHF 10,000."

"Had the Adjudicatory Chamber considered the evidences independently and fairly, especially the most critical FIFA approvals of all the expenditures and transaction raised in the Final Report, then
the instant Decision could not be passed. It appears that the Adjudicatory Chamber simply acted as a stamping house by upholding the decision of the FIFA Investigatory Chamber without applying its mind independently and judiciously.

Therefore, as per the Rules, Mr. Shohag shall appeal the biased and targeted Decision communicated on l4 April 2023 before the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) which is an independent institution, based in Lausanne, Switzerland involved in resolving legal disputes in the
field of sport."