Should Murshedy get away with sweeping dirt under the rug?

In stark contrast to many developed nations where people in power often relinquish their positions in face of charges of corruption or incompetence even before allegations are proved in a show of true accountability -- there is a disturbing tendency to brush aside all sorts of allegations, even after proven, under the rug by the people in power in countries like Bangladesh, which ranks among the lowest in various corruption indexes.

We often see heads of organisations in our country – political, financial or social -- washing their hands off of people who have been proven to have caused major digressions with statements like: "the organisation will not take responsibility for the activities of a few individuals."

Something similar is happening in the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), which has been in the limelight for serious financial mismanagement for over a year now.

Following up on FIFA's decision to ban the former BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag on April 14, 2023, the world football's governing body, on Thursday, imposed new sanctions on Shohag while also suspending two other BFF officials, both of whom had left the federation in the wake of the initial investigation.

However, the most damaging part of the FIFA decisions was the implication on BFF's senior vice-president Abdus Salam Murshedy, who has been fined 10,000 Swiss Francs (more than Tk 12 lakh) for breaching article 14 (general duties) of the FIFA Code of Ethics.

A three-time Member of Parliament (MP) and former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Murshedy has been holding the second senior-most position in BFF's executive body over the last 16 years and has been heading its finance committee for the last 12 years.

When a person of that stature is slapped with a monetary fine by the sport's world governing body, and the decision is made public through channels all across the globe, it is a matter of great shame, not only for the country's football but also for the country itself.

Murshedy has since sent a press release to the media claiming that two of the three charges FIFA investigated him for were dismissed while the other one, for which he has been fined, was proven only because he was a signatory to all finance-related documents for being the chief of finance committee. The former footballer, elsewhere, claimed to a media that he has been a victim of signature forgery.

"Until and unless I've seen the paper of approval from FIFA or AFC attached for a specific fund, I do not sign the document. If they [involved BFF officials] use my scanned signature, how would I know it?" asked the footballer-turned-administrator.

Whether his claims are valid or not cannot probably be proven in court. What is proven, though, is the fact that he has been found liable in the malpractices that had taken place in his office, bearing his signature. Should he get away with sweeping the dirt under the rug?