Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim claimed he is being made a scapegoat in the heritage footballers’ scandal.
The crown prince - better known as TMJ - is instead blaming Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) insiders who he claimed had an axe to grind with him over financial matters.
In an X post today, Tunku Ismail claimed that some in FAM had approached him for projects, and to avoid MACC investigations, among others.
These individuals, he claimed, were also unhappy that the government channelled funds to the national football team - implying it was because they did not get a cut of the funds.
He then accused these individuals of meeting the media, hardcore football fans, and social media influencers to create a sabotage campaign using various narratives.
Tunku Ismail has been under fire for his alleged role in the recruitment of the heritage players who have been suspended from playing in matches after the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) found their Malaysian citizenship was based on forged documents.
The crown prince was key in identifying the players and had urged the government to grant them citizenship.
Commenting on this today, he said the Fifa case concerns forgery and not citizenship eligibility.
"Who made the wrong submission? Which agent and who in FAM did it?
"Why not submit legit documents from the National Registration Department? To save (FAM) insiders, the players were blamed.
"These insiders should take responsibility. Not wash their hands and use fans and the media to make me a scapegoat," he added.
CAS’ ruling
According to Fifa, the NRD had informed the sports body that it never received the original birth certificates of the seven heritage players, and instead issued new birth certificates based on secondary information and foreign documents from Argentina, Brazil and Spain.
NRD director-general Badrul Hisham Alias is also reported as stating that the department had conducted cross-verification to confirm the players' lineage through their grandparents.
Fifa's own investigations, however, found the grandparents’ original birth certificates, which stated they were not born in Malaysia.
Fifa also found that documents submitted by FAM had been doctored, with the birthplaces of the grandparents changed to locations in Malaysia.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has upheld the Fifa findings and maintained a 12-month suspension on the players involved, albeit only for official matches.
Previously, Tunku Ismail told critics who accused him of involvement in the scandal to sue him.
This is not the first time the Johor royal has clashed with FAM and accused them of misconduct.
Ten years ago, in 2016, Tunku Ismail claimed to have obtained a pen drive from whistleblowers containing evidence of corruption within FAM.
However, then-MACC investigations director Azam Baki said the pen drive did not contain any evidence of corruption. - Mkini
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