PETALING JAYA: The long-standing bane of unpaid salary to footballers has finally seen one person being punished.
A former owner of Kuantan FA and Marcerra United was arrested yesterday and sent to jail.
The former owner had allegedly defied a court order to pay outstanding salary arrears of RM1.4 million to 46 players and 12 club officials in 2018.
The former owner, a Datuk Seri, was arrested at the Shah Alam Sessions Court while attending a separate hearing related to an alleged highway project fraud yesterday morning.
According to the lawyer representing the former players and officials of the two football clubs, Mohd Suhail Rahimi Abdul Razak from Zarkasya & Co, the 50-year-old man was detained in accordance with the existing rules, namely the committal order issued by the Kuala Lumpur High Court earlier this year.
Suhail explained that the court had sentenced the former owner to one week in prison for contempt of court for failing to comply with the order, which led to an arrest warrant being issued.
“However, the court granted him a two-week delay as a final opportunity to settle the outstanding arrears until Feb 9.
“But he only paid RM600,000 by mid-2023 and the remaining RM1.4 million is still unpaid to this day,” said Suhail yesterday.
He added that the man was sent to Kajang Prison to serve his seven-day sentence beginning yesterday.
Professional Footballers Association of Malaysia (PFAM) chief executive officer Izham Ismail said this was the first time a court has issued an arrest warrant in a football club’s salary arrears case.
Izham shared that his party had been fighting the case for seven years, during which the players and club officials had suffered.
“This serves as a warning to all club and association owners to be aware of players’ rights, especially when it comes to salary arrears.
“We want the local football industry to take this matter seriously and hope that such issues don’t escalate to the point of detention,” he said.
