ANFA President Ganesh Thapa in hot soup

If I am not wrong, this is the first time in seventeen years President of All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) Ganesh Thapa finds himself in the midst of   a serious bribery charge.

The Associated Press (AP)   report   stated that   Gaurav Thapa son of ANFA boss received a whopping   $100,000 (deemed illegal) from the suspended former President of AFC Mohamed Bin Hammam.  

It may be recalled that the Qatari native had challenged Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency.He, however, had to withdraw his candidacy after he was found guilty of buying votes for the leadership election.

Upon   his return from   Malaysia, Thapa was quick to address and dismiss the bribery charges. He defended himself and his son vigorously, and he   claimed that he borrowed the money for personal matters and  has  paid it all back.

Do you really believe the man? I don’t. How do you know he is telling the truth? Where   is the documentary evidence to back up his assertion?  His reasoning   lacked   creditability, and   he sounded   very   flimsy to me.

He could have used his account for the money transfer. Why didn’t he? Let me be straight, his   son’s account   was   merely a cover up to hide the money.

He can say what he wants, but   the truth is he cannot hide from the truth. He was smart to play safe, but never in his wildest imagination had he ever thought someday someone would stumble over his son’s account.

What has Thapa to say about  the  $4,366 he received from  disgraced  Hammam  to buy air  tickets for his son and wife.

I was   astounded   that   the   mainstream media   cared   to   carry   the news; however, there   has been no follow up reports. I don’t expect them to do so. There has been almost no effort to dig further into the report on their part.

By and large, the media has   remained   silent and    protective about Thapa when it comes to critical reporting. They have shied away from   telling   hard truths   about   his   misdeeds, mismanagement and failed leadership   for   years.

Not to forget   that Thapa has been in power for close to two decades, but the   face of Nepali football remains that of despair, anguish and uncertainty. Apparently, he has been more focused  in furthering his personal agendas,but at what cost ?  Nepali football, of course.   

 

Former   secretary-general of  AFC  Peter  Velappan   in an interview   described  the  FIFA  and  AFC as a “culture of corruption”. And he described Hammam as the architect of  “bribery and corruption” first in the AFC and then in FIFA.

Thapa was   closely associated with Hammam who took office  in 2002. In  nine years of his presidency, Hammam established  a  legacy of mismanagement and corruption that  tarnished the image of AFC.

Hammam took good care of his allies   and rewarded them with  money, gifts and position within the AFC.   Thapa was one of his many   staunch   supporters , and  without a shred of doubt  he  benefitted  immensely  in every way.

 For now, we   have to wait and see how it all goes down ,  and what  FIFA and AFC have to say.   It will not surprise me if we  get to   hear more about Thapa after the audit report is fully made public.