FIFA has no authority to adjudicate official documents; a former judge believes it violates Malaysian judicial authority

 

FIFA has sanctioned the Football Association of Malaysia and seven foreign players, but former Court of Appeal judge Hamid Sudan pointed out that FIFA's move constitutes an error of judicial jurisdiction and infringes on the power of the Malaysian courts. 

Hamid Surdan explained to Malaysiakini that Article 22 of the disciplinary code cited by FIFA actually only applies to cases of forgery or alteration of documents, not to documents officially issued by an official body.

“I believe that Section 22 does not apply to valid documents issued by the Malaysian government or its agencies, or documents issued even if they contain errors.” 

“Arbitration tribunals or commissions can refuse to accept birth certificates, but they do not have the power to determine that these government-issued documents are forged or fraudulent.”

"Therefore, Article 22 cannot grant FIFA the authority to determine whether an official document issued by a government is a forgery, even if there are procedural irregularities."

He emphasized that the only authoritative body capable of ruling on granting citizenship to the aforementioned seven players should be the Malaysian courts.

FIFA has no authority to adjudicate official documents; a former judge believes it violates Malaysian judicial authority.

He stated that FIFA cannot act against the official records of a sovereign government unless through a Malaysian court or a public judicial process in the player's country of origin. 

On September 26, FIFA fined and suspended the Football Association of Malaysia and seven naturalized players, accusing them of forging documents to prove their blood ties
with Malaysia. 

FIFA's investigation has found that the seven "naturalized players" who were granted Malaysian citizenship did not actually have grandparents born in Malaysia, as they claimed. 

The Football Association of Malaysia subsequently admitted that there was a technical error in the process of submitting the documents for the naturalized players and filed an appeal. Meanwhile, Home Minister Saifuddin Abdullah stated that the naturalization applications of the seven players were
approved in accordance with the law. 

However, FIFA rejected the appeals of the Football Association of Malaysia and seven players who were granted citizenship through "bloodline naturalization" on Monday (3rd), upholding the original sanctions.