Thai Premier League club Buriram United on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against acting Football Association of Thailand (FAT) president Worawi Makudi and his acting secretary-general Ong-arj Kosinkha for allegedly using forged documents and providing false information to a government official in the run-up to last month's election for FAT president.
Worawi Makudi, right, is re-elected president of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) in an election on Oct 16, 2013. He beat ex-national team manager Virach Chanpanich 42-28. (File photo by Thanarak Khoonton)
In a suit file with the Criminal Court, Buriram United manager Tadthep Pitakpulsin claimed the two conspired to modify FAT regulations before submitting them to a registrar at the Local Administration Department (LAD), which oversees all associations in Thailand, between Aug 23 and Oct 14.
Mr Tadthep claimed the move was unlawful and said the two also added a clause that an FAT meeting could be held in the presence of 50 of its members while the previous regulations stated it needed at least half of the FAT members, or about 90, he said.
Mr Tadthep claimed the duo then presented the draft regulations to an LAD official and told the official the documents were legitimate.
On June 16, after Worawi's and Ong-arj's terms expired, they were supposed to hold a conference to elect the organisation's new president and executive members, but they refused to do so, Mr Tadthep said.
Instead, they called a meeting of FAT members on Aug 9 to vote on the association's revised regulations to be in line with Fifa statutes which were approved by the participants, according to the lawsuit.
Worawi defeated former national team manager Virach Charnpanich in the Oct 17 FAT presidential election. But an ad hoc election committee refused to approve the result, claiming there were irregularities.
Virach and his supporters have also complained of foul play. Virach was backed by several TPL clubs including Buriram and Chonburi FC.
The LAD has not yet approved Worawi's victory.