Those who follow Singapore football might have heard about a police investigation involving several senior leaders of the Football Association of Singapore, back in April 2017.

The investigation concerned a series of allegations and counter-claims made in 2017, in the lead-up to the first-ever FAS elections, which culminated in a series of police raids and arrests.

The four who were arrested — and later released on bail — were:

• Zainudin Nordin, former FAS president and ex-PAP Member of Parliament
• Winston Lee, FAS's general secretary in 2017
• Bill Ng, a FAS presidential candidate in 2017
• Bonnie Wong, wife of Ng

"No further action"

The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) said in a brief statement on Sep. 26 that it "recently directed" the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) to take "no further action" against Zainudin and Lee, in the first major update on the case since 2017.

It was responding to queries fielded by The Straits Times, which first reported on the matter.

AGC added, however, that it was "unable to comment on the case at this juncture", saying that it was still reviewing the CAD's investigation findings against unnamed "other individuals".

Here's the statement by AGC in full:

“AGC has recently directed the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) to take no further action against Zainudin Bin Nordin and Winston Lee. AGC is still in consultation with the CAD to review the CAD’s investigation findings against other individuals and is therefore unable to comment on the case at this juncture.”

What happened in 2017

Lim Kia Tong, a Football Association of Singappore (FAS) council member, and FAS presidential hopeful kicked off his election campaign by making some negative statements about his opponent, Ng, the then-Chairman of Hougang United.

"In order for any team or anyone to bring football forward, this person and the team and each and everyone of them must have integrity. And must believe that they come here not for ulterior purposes," said Lim, among other things.

Then, on Apr. 13, 2017, Ng gave a press conference about his team's manifesto, revealing in the process the fact that he had donated S$850,000 to the football fraternity, but did not know what the money was used for.

He said that "the best answer" to where the money went could come from Lee, then-general secretary of FAS.

This prompted Lee to publish a statement on the FAS website on Apr. 14, 2017, calling Ng's accusations "baseless and untrue".

Lee contended that Ng had "full knowledge" of the purpose of his donations, which included a S$500,00 donation in 2014: Supporting the "Football Management System" of the ASEAN Football Federation's (AFF), a Malaysia-based regional football organisation, of which Lee was vice president at the time.

The statement by Lee did not account for all of the S$850,000, however.

Furthermore, details of the aforementioned "Football Management System" and what it comprised were difficult to find at the time, with both FAS and AFF spokespersons describing it in vague terms.

According to Lee's statement, it was FAS that approached Ng seeking support for the AFF, but he did not explain why FAS needed to help seek donations on behalf of the regional organisation in the first place.

It was later revealed by FAS that it was Zainudin — its former president — who approached Ng and asked for the donation to AFF.

And when Lee produced evidence on Apr. 18, 2017, in the form of a letter supposedly written by Ng acknowledging the purpose of the S$500,000 donation, Ng responded — within hours — that it was Lee who had written the letter.

Ng also said that Lee was the one who met him to seek donations from Tiong Bahru Football Club (TBFC) in 2014.

Meanwhile, Sport Singapore made a police report against TBFC for suspected misuse of club funds, on Apr. 19, 2017, and against a senior officer over alleged obstruction of audits into several football clubs.

This prompted a police raid on the FAS, and the clubhouses of three football clubs linked to Ng – Hougang United, TBFC, and Woodlands Wellington FC (WWFC) the next day.

Zainudin then came out and broke his long silence to deny involvement with Ng, however, saying that they were not business partners, and did not have any business dealings.

This was in spite of media reports highlighting links between the two.

Lim Kia Tong ended up winning the 2017 FAS election.

Lim has since been re-elected for a second four-year term after FAS elections earlier this year saw no challengers.

Top photo via FAS & sg.emb-japan.go.jp