In the wake of Richard Lai’s guilty plea on bribery charges in a U.S. court, another FIFA member has been ousted as well.
Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah of Kuwait has denied all allegations, but decided to step down. Sheikh Ahmad was not named specifically, but was described enough in detail to pinpoint in the U.S. court documents regarding Lai’s guilty plea.
“I do not want these allegations to create divisions or distract attention from the upcoming AFC [Asian Football Confederation] and FIFA Congresses,” Ahmad said, after resigning from both FIFA and AFC positions. His resignation comes prior to an imminent decision from the FIFA ethics committee on whether he should be suspended from his roles.
Following Lai’s plea, U.S. Department of Justice court documents identified Ahmad not by name, but by position, reading, “Co-conspirator #2 was a high-ranking official of FIFA, the Kuwait Football Association [KFA] and the Olympic Council of Asia [OCA],” who was “ultimately elected to the FIFA Executive Committee.”
The allegations read that Ahmad approached Lai and bribed him for influence and information amid the Asian Federation and in the FIFA executive committee. “One of the functions the defendant Richard Lai performed for Co-Conspirator #2 and Co-Conspirator #3 in exchange for the funds they sent him was to advise them on who was supporting which candidates in AFC and FIFA matters, including elections, and who Co-Conspirator #2 and Co-Conspirator #3 should recruit to support their chosen candidates.”
Lai, in his plea, claimed he received as much as $770,000 from Ahmad. The guilty plea is the first in the U.S. DoJ FIFA probe from outside the Americas, and Ahmad’s resignation represents its wide-reaching effects.