Bukit Aman probing link between FAM poison pen letter, player attacks
Published on: Wednesday, May 08, 2024
By: FMT
Bukit Aman criminal investigation department director Shuhaily Zain said the attacks on the footballers came at two-day intervals. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: Police are looking into the possibility that the recent assaults on three national footballers were linked to accusations levelled at the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM).
Bukit Aman criminal investigation department director Shuhaily Zain said this was one of the aspects of the investigation into the attacks on footballers Akhyar Rashid, Faisal Halim and Safiq Rahim.
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“The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) found that the accusations made against FAM last month were baseless,” he said at a media conference at Bukit Aman police headquarters.
“Did that (MACC) statement lead to the dissatisfaction among some parties, who then took it out on national players?”
Early last month, a poison pen letter went viral on social media accusing FAM of fraud, abuse of power, mismanaging funds, discrepancies in salaries and benefits, and issues with the Harimau Malaya squad and the national training centre (NTC) project.
Subsequently, the media quoted MACC sources as saying that they had not found any irregularities or corruption in the case involving the NTC.
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Shuhaily said Bukit Aman is now taking over the cases from the respective police headquarters for better coordination.
He added that so far, police had only identified the pattern in the three cases – they were committed at two-day intervals.
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“The perpetrators come in pairs and tailed their victims before carrying out the attacks. There’s some sort of preparation involved,” he said.
Faisal was splashed with acid at a shopping mall in Kota Damansara on Sunday and suffered fourth-degree burns, while Akhyar was attacked by two robbers after returning from training last Thursday.
Yesterday, Safiq, a former national team captain, had his car windscreen smashed with a hammer by unknown assailants who came on a motorcycle.
Separately, Shuhaily said police had not closed their investigation into the murder of autistic boy Zayn Rayyan Abdul Matiin.
“I understand that the public is not satisfied with the investigation’s progress, but we have not closed the case.
“If I retire without solving the case, I’ll take that as my failure.”
He also said police owed it to the public to solve the arson attack on the home of Beruas MP Ngeh Koo Ham.
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