Hougang United and Tiong Bahru FC chairman Bill Ng is still eligible to run for president in Saturday's Football Association of Singapore (FAS) election, despite ongoing police investigations.
K. Bala Chandran, chairman of the ad hoc electoral committee (EC) of FAS, confirmed Ng's participation, while adding that FIFA would reserve the right to postpone the elections.
Singapore authorities are investigating the alleged misuse of funds at amateur club Tiong Bahru, including a S$500,000 donation from Ng to FAS that ended up going to ASEAN Football Federation.
"There is no change on the position of the electoral committee at this stage on the eligibility of Mr. Ng," Bala Chandran told The New Paper.
"There has been no communication between the EC and the police over the current police investigations into Mr. Ng.
"There has been no material information shared by the police with the EC.
"There was information shared by Sport Singapore, but the EC was of the view that it was not sufficient to prompt a reassessment into the integrity of his eligibility, given that at this stage, the presumption of innocence applies until proven guilty.
"FIFA has been apprised of what has happened over the past one week or so. I have also forwarded some of the media reports made over the past one week to FIFA.
"It is for FIFA to decide whether the election should proceed."
Sports agency Sport Singapore filed a police report on April 19 about possible misuse of Tiong Bahru FC's funds, plus a delay in finalising audits of some S.League clubs.
At the heart of the ongoing controversy is whether Ng knew that his donation was going directly to the AFF.
He said he donated the money to FAS at the request of the national body's general-secretary Winston Lee. But Lee then produced documents that he claimed proved that there could have been no doubt that Ng was unaware of the money's final destination.
Ng is the presidential candidate of Team Game Changers who are taking on Team LKT, headed by former FAS vice-president Lim Kia Tong.
Team LKT is seen as more of a status quo choice, with a flavour of the current FAS regime, while Ng's slate is predominantly filled with those from outside.