AIFF Secretary Denies Corruption Allegations Against Kalyan Chaubey

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) secretary M Satyanarayanan rubbished all the allegations of corruption levelled against president Kalyan Chaubey, firmly stating that ''no concrete evidence'' has been found till now.

The allegations against Chaubey ranged from misappropriation of federation funds for personal expenses to manipulation of tender processes and directing broadcasting contracts to a preferred company.

''Of course, we take everything seriously. All these issues were openly discussed in the AGM. And according to the members, no proof was given there. So, the members did not find anyone guilty. Nothing, absolutely nothing,'' Satyanarayanan told PTI in an exclusive interview at the AIFF headquarters on Tuesday.

Chaubey's trusted lieutenant was categorical that he would refrain from making any comments on any matter that is sub-judice.

''I think there are some cases lying (pending) in courts. Court will take (give) its decision (verdict),'' he added.

The AIFF secretary general said that as an institution, they have no right to interfere in workings of judicial bodies.

''Even these independent judicial bodies, we never interfere. We don't even know what goes on there. And that is how it should be. FIFA is very strict on that. Till today, I've never spoken to a single member of any judicial committee. We neither ask them what is happening or tell them what to do. We don't. So, that's how independent those committees are,'' the secretary general added.

The AIFF secretary general put up a brave face while reasoning why India's FIFA ranking has further plummeted to 136 under the present regime.

''There are a lot of reasons. The first thing is, if you see in the last World Cup qualifiers, we should have at least gone to the next round. Two, the ranking sometimes doesn't reflect how the team is performing. Because we won one match, we moved up by six spots after our last game.''

''Thirdly, in the FIFA friendlies, the better countries want to play against better countries because they get points.''.

''The fourth part --- some of the other countries in the region have started getting their overseas players. Like for example, there are one or two countries where some of those players have never stepped into that country, but they're playing for that country. Like our OCIs (Ryan Williams for example).''.

''Other countries have actually benefited. Take Bangladesh in the recent under-20 final. They had a couple of players who were born and raised in the US playing for them,'' Satya concluded.

(With inputs from agencies.)