Former AIFF secretary lodges complaint against President Kalyan Chaubey over 'unethical practices'

Thiruvananthapuram: Shaji Prabhakaran, the former secretary of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), has lodged a formal complaint against AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey with the Ethical Committees of the AIFF, the Asian Football Confederation, and FIFA, alleging "unethical practices" that have caused financial losses.

In his formal complaint dated December 22, 2024, Prabhakaran also accused Chaubey of nepotism and even misusing the brand of FIFA without prior approval from the international body.

When contacted by PTI for a reaction on Prabhakaran's allegations and the formal complaint, Chaubey declined to comment.

Prabhakaran's allegations against Chaubey included conflict of interest, actions causing financial loss and reputational damage to AIFF, bribery attempt by a political functionary, misrepresentation and misinformation, use of AIFF platforms to further his political career and interference in administrative matters and losing the trust of AIFF employees.

Talking to PTI Videos here, Prabhakaran said that he would continue his fight to find a logical conclusion to this issue.

"I waited for more than one year to file a formal complaint to the Ethical Committee after raising these issues on various platforms," he said.

"It is the responsibility of the institution itself to bring about those and investigate and come out clean. And I waited and waited, but nothing happened. Therefore, I thought to formally complain, putting all the violations in black and white, and now I expect that the AFC and FIFA will act on it and they will investigate," he said.