Zulfadli Hopes For KBS, BAM Assistance On BWF Punishment

  KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 (Bernama) -- National professional player Zulfadli Zulkiffli hopes the Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) and the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) will assist him on the 20-year suspension from any badminton activities after he was found guilty for match-fixing by Badminton World Federation (BWF).    On Tuesday, BWF also fined him US$25,000 (RM98,358). The 25-year-old player described himself as a victim of the world sports governing body in the case as he was punished without any strong evidence and was only based on WhatsApp messages which did not cover the entire conversation besides being wrongly translated from Bahasa Melayu to English. “I only know one job that is playing badminton. Now I am not able to do any work related to badminton. The punishment has prevented me from continuing with my life. “The punishment is heavier than a jail sentence as in the jail I was given food and shelter while on the outside I just do not how else to live. "The decision is actually far more than the suspension. My family may have to live with shame even though they were not wrong. Nonetheless I want to appeal but I was told to pay almost RM100,000 but I could not afford to pay the sum. “I hope all parties will believe that I am a victim and not an offender. I am appealing to BAM and KBS to assist me with the appeal and protect me from being victimised by BWF,” he said in a special media conference here Friday. In the function, Zulfadli also claimed the punishment was based on the messages take from WhatsApp without any other strong evidence including the specific match which showed him committing match-fixing.       He said last year, BWF sent BAM a letter to inform him of an interview with world governing body when it was an interrogation.      He said he was not fluent in English and applied for his father, Zulkiffli Sidek to be present as an interpreter but the request was turned down and was given a translator to assist him in the process.          "I was questioned by an Englishman, Paul Scotney who is a former police inspector from Scotland Yard but I did not quite understand his accent and he (Scotney) said the questions need not be translated into Bahasa Melayu.    “During the session, my mobile phone was forcibly taken from me and they later used a machine to extract all my WhatsApp messages written in 2013, before making the accusations after reading portions of the messages to me which made me confused over the context of the words used. “One of them is during the 2013 Dutch Open Grand Prix, Tan Chun Seang visited a casino there and we discussed his experience via WhatsApp words like bet and jackpot were used in the conversation. The prosecution only used these words to link our involvement in match-fixing.     “Not long later, I was accused with seven main charges for match-fixing and in summary I was accused of match-fixing in several tournaments but was not aware of which match,” he said. Zulfadli said the first charge involved the Korean GP when playing against Han Ki Hoon, where he was accused of match-fixing after withdrawing from the match when it was found the referee from South Korea made biased decisions and BAM had acknowledged the matter in a press statement.             "After five years, I was accused the withdrawal from the match was sports corruption not because the referee was biased. Apart from that, there were five charges involving me including London GP 2013, Dutch GP 2013, Korean GP 2013, Macau GP 2014 and the K&D Graphics & Yonex GP. “In these tournaments, there were dozens of matches but it was not state clearly which particular match I was involved in matching-fixing or do they mean I was involved in fixing matches in all the GPs?    “I need to know in detailed to defend myself accordingly,” he said. For the accusation involving Brazil GP 2016, Zulfadli said Scotland Yard had taken all bank statements and they includes a sum of RM5,000 as evidence he was involved in match-fixing when the amount was given by a sponsor. In this regard, Zulfadli apologised to Malaysians over the decision of BWF, which let the people in Malaysia down and tarnished the good name of the country at international level. He added, his apology was a sincere gesture and it was not an admission that he was guilty of match-fixing as charged by BWF. “I apologise not because I admit to match-fixing or sports corruption. I am sorry because of the impact of BWF's decision against me. I hereby state that the accusations hurled against me were not fair and the decision which found me guilty was also not fair,” he said. -- BERNAMA