Fifa officials are probing the governing body of Asian sport, controlled by one of the world governing body’s own most powerful executives, over allegations of interference in football elections.
The Olympic Council of Asia are the umbrella group for 45 Asian nations and are headed by Sheik Ahmad Al-Sabah, of Kuwait, a member of Fifa’s executive committee and widely known as a ‘kingmaker’ in global sport.
Sheik Ahmad’s organisation has been accused by a Kuwaiti MP, Abdullah Al-Mayouf, of manipulating "some Asian federations’ elections". Sheik Ahmad vehemently denies any wrongdoing and says accusations against him are politically motivated.
During an investigation by The Mail on Sunday, along with the Ekstra Bladet newspaper in Denmark, legal sources close to Fifa have said the OCA is being investigated.
Paperwork being studied includes correspondence between a senior official at the OCA, Amer Elalami, and the head of the football association of Kyrgyzstan, Dastan Konokbaev, either side of the Asian football confederation presidential election of May 2013, won by Sheik Salman of Bahrain who was backed by Sheik Ahmad.
One email explicitly mentions "where we [the Kyrgyz FA] need your [OCA] support" as "previously discussed", then lists projects requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars of funding.
Konokbaev and Elalami refer to each other as "brother", and Elalami at one point writes "just let me know if [you] require any assistance from our side" then provides a "private" email address and "secure" mobile number that he says is "available any time".
Neither the OCA nor Sheik Ahmad will comment on those emails and the OCA denies providing funds to any football federation. Konokbaev did not respond to requests for comment.
Documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday have been made available to Fifa.
A spokesman for Fifa’s ethics committee said: "It is the task of the investigatory chamber to examine all relevant complaints and information and to take them into account in taking its decision, which of course it does independent of a person’s position."
"In order to protect any investigations we can however not indicate if we have or have not preliminary investigatory proceedings against an individual."