P Ramasamy said the youth and sports minister “knew very well” that Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told the Dewan Rakyat that he had used his discretionary powers to grant the players citizenship.
The former Perai assemblyman said Saifuddin had also defended the decision by stating that the seven players successfully passed the Bahasa Melayu language requirement.
“Yeoh should not pretend that she is unaware of the role of the home ministry in the granting of citizenship to the seven foreign players,” he said in a statement.
Yeoh said on Wednesday that any criminal elements in the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) scandal came under the purview of the home ministry.
She also said that she had reached out to Saifuddin and was waiting for updates.
But Ramasamy said there was nothing for Yeoh to gain by contacting Saifuddin.
He also accused Yeoh of being “completely oblivious” to what was happening in the Malaysian football scene.
He said Yeoh could not wash her hands of responsibility by claiming that criminal aspects of the case fell under the home ministry’s purview.
“As the youth and sports minister, Yeoh should have been proactive on the matter of forgery and fraud of FAM exposed by Fifa,” he said.
FAM and the seven naturalised Malaysian footballers were penalised by Fifa in September after the world football body said FAM had submitted falsified documents to confirm the players’ eligibility before Malaysia’s 2027 Asian Cup qualifier against Vietnam on June 10.
Fifa said that contrary to documents submitted by FAM claiming that the grandparents of the seven players were born in Malaysia, its own investigation found original records indicating that the grandparents were actually born in Spain, Argentina, Brazil, and the Netherlands.
FAM was fined 350,000 Swiss francs (about RM1.8 million) while each player was fined 2,000 Swiss francs (about RM10,560) and suspended for 12 months from all football-related activities.
The players are Gabriel Felipe Arrocha, Facundo Garces, Rodrigo Holgado, Imanol Machuca, Joao Figueiredo, Jon Irazabal and Hector Hevel.
On Nov 3, Fifa rejected FAM’s appeal against its sanctions. FAM is now appealing the sanctions with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.