The decision was taken by the Adjudicatory Chamber of the Ethics Committee, chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert, on the grounds that a breach of the FIFA Code of Ethics appears to have been committed and a decision on the main issue may not be taken early enough.

It followed a request from the chairman of the investigatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee, Dr Cornel Borbély.

The case is now the subject of formal investigation proceedings.

In July, a Bangkok criminal court sentenced 63-year-old Worawi, a member of FIFA's Executive Committee for 18 years until he lost his seat earlier this year, to a suspended jail term of 16 months and fined him THB4,000 (£74/$113/€99).

Along with former FAT secretary general Ong-art Korsinka, now President of the Thai Premier League Co Ltd, Makudi was found guilty of falsifying documents.

The two had been sued by Pattaya United Football Club, who claimed they had given false information in the FAT election in October 2013, which saw Makudi re-elected, extending his reign which had started in 2007 having previously served as secretary general from 1996. 

FIFA had dismissed an appeal to intervene but Virach Chanpanich, who had lost the election to Makudi by 42 votes to 24, had taken his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne. 

They ruled in July 2014, however, that "irregularities alleged by Mr. Chanpanich either did not exist...or were not supported by evidence".

Worawi was a controversial figure during his time with FIFA and survived several scandals before he lost his seat representing the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in April. 

He was reportedly under investigation by FIFA's Ethics Committee for his conduct during the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests. 

Worawi was a long-time ally of Mohamed bin Hammam, the former FIFA Presidential candidate from Qatar who was banned from football for life over alleged financial mismanagement of AFC accounts while President.

FIFA's Ethics Committee had investigated Worawi in 2011 over allegations that more than $800,000 (£521,000/€703,000) of development money was spent on projects built on land he owned near Bangkok.

That case was closed after FIFA accepted documents allegedly showing Worawi donated the land to FAT.

In May 2011, Lord Triesman, former chairman of the English Football Association, gave evidence in the British Parliament that Makudi had demanded the television rights to a friendly between England and the Thai national team in return for voting for England to host the 2018 World Cup. 

This led to an inquiry set up by the FA, where Triesman repeated the allegation of corruption by referring to his Parliamentary evidence.

Makudi then tried to sued Triesman for libel, claiming that the allegations were not true and that his reputation had been tarnished.

The case was dismissed on the grounds of abuse by the British courts.

News of his suspension is just the latest scandal to hit FIFA, with outgoing President Sepp Blatter and his UEFA counterpart and Presidential hopeful Michel Platini also currently suspended for 90 days.

Swiss prosecutors opened a criminal investigation last month into an allegedly "unfavourable contract" signed with the Caribbean Football Union by Blatter as well as a supposed "disloyal" payment of CHF 2 million (£1.3 million/$2.1 million/€1.8 million) he made to Platini.

Both men deny wrongdoing and are appealing the suspensions, while FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke has also been suspended over allegations concerning the re-sale of World Cup tickets above face value.

Meanwhile, South Korean former vice-president Chung Mong-joon has been banned from football for six years after he was found guilty of infringing FIFA Ethics rules related to conduct, confidentiality, disclosure and collaboration.

This followed an investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.


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