Bangladesh Football Federation has taken an initiative to investigate why its general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag was banned by Fifa and wanted to make sure such suspension never happens again.
The two-year ban handed to Shohag by world football's governing body due to forgery and falsification of documents has been talk of the town since last Friday.
BFF called an emergency meeting of its executive committee Monday to discuss the issue where it was decided that Shohag will never set foot at BFF again.
“We didn't like what happened so we want to make sure it will never repeat. This is our main concern,” said BFF president Kazi Salahuddin after the meeting.
“We have formed a special committee which will investigate what happened and why. It is a seven-member committee plus there is an internal audit committee. These two will work together to submit a complete report in next 30 days,” the BFF chief added.
The members of the committee are four vice-presidents - Kazi Nabil Ahmed, Imrul Hasan, Mohiuddin Ahmed Mohi and Ataur Rahman Bhuiyan - and executive members Zakir Hossain, Satyajit Das Rupu and Ilias Hossain.
BFF's senior vice-president Abdus Salam Murshedy, who is also the chairman of the finance committee, was present at the media briefing and sat just beside Salahuddin.
Murshedy later informed that Nabil will chair the investigation committee.
He said in addition to Fifa's ban, Shohag will never have the chance to work with BFF again, and that other individuals will also be punished if found guilty by the probe committee.
Neither Salahuddin nor Murshedy were in a position to take the blame.
Salahuddin said, “My office has done wrong which has been proved. Fifa has banned for misappropriation of power.”
Murshedy said, “We don't want to take the blame. There was nothing to do with the finance committee. He [Shohag] didn't follow the proper procedure and compliance. That is why he will never be reinstated in the position again.”
The BFF senior VP also argued that there is no allegation of corruption.
He continued, “Shohag didn't follow the proper compliance. There was no corruption. They banned him due to lack of compliance.”
He however nodded to a query that the Fifa ban has tarnished the image of the country to outside world.
The committee also decided to appoint an acting general secretary to replace Shohag.
BFF president's personal secretary and chief protocol officer Imran Hossain Tushar would take the post temporarily.
“As our general secretary got banned for two years, we have decided that he [Shohag] will never work for the federation again,” said Murshedy.
“As we have ongoing operations like federation's activities, and tournaments are also taking place, so we will appoint an acting general secretary for at least three months. We will follow the procedure to appoint a permanent general secretary.”
He added, “We want to implement our decisions as soon as possible so that BFF can be more transparent. We want to be more active.”
