Giving his best: Kuala Lumpur’s Paulo Josue (back) in action against Sabah’s Rawilson Batuil in the Super League match on July 31. — Bernama
PETALING JAYA: A tough financial season just got a lot tougher for Kuala Lumpur.
The club have been handed significant sanctions, including a six-point deduction, a total fine of RM100,000, and a transfer ban for the remainder of the Super League season due to inaccuracies in the documentation submitted to government agencies in obtaining their club licence.
The penalties were handed by the First Instance Body (FIB), whose investigation revealed discrepancies in the club’s documentation submitted to LHDN, EPF, and Perkeso.
“Following a disclosure by club director Syed Yazid Syed Omar, the FIB initiated a comprehensive investigation, which included verifying declarations through the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Club Licensing Administrative System (CLAS) and auditing the club’s top management.
“The findings revealed that the documents related to government contributions were not accurate or true, contradicting previous submissions to the FIB,” the FIB said in a statement.
Hence, the FIB have imposed a six-point deduction and a RM50,000 fine on Kuala Lumpur.
Additionally, the club also face a transfer ban for the remainder of the season, and must resolve all government agency arrears by Sept 30.
“FIB’s review found documents submitted by Kuala Lumpur regarding contributions to LHDN, EPF and Perkeso contained inaccurate information based on confirmations from government agencies.
“These agencies could not verify the authenticity of the documents submitted.
“Given such incidents, it must be stated that the club are fully responsible for the submission of documents and the integrity of all documentation submitted to the FIB.”
Kuala Lumpur’s inaccurate documentation submission for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) licence also landed them in hot water as the club are now barred from applying for the AFC licence for the next two cycles (2024-2025 and 2025-2026), and a RM50,000 fine to go with it.
The fine also comes with having their AFC licence for the current season revoked.
“The FIB hope all Super League clubs can learn from this issue and not take lightly the information declared to the FIB, as the independent body can review and revoke the national licence and AFC licence if found guilty.”Previously, Kuala Lumpur Football Association (KLFA) vice-president Yazid raised questions on how the club obtained their licence to compete this season after discovering that the financial debts included failure to make EPF payment since February last year.
Yazid, who is also the director of KL United FC Sdn Bhd, revealed that the club not only owed huge amounts in salary arrears, but EPF payments amounting to RM719,000.
