The National Sports Council (NSC) on Monday said it will take appropriate action against the suspended All Nepal Football Association President Ganesh Thapa after going through the charges labelled against the former national team striker.

One of the most influential figures in Asian football Thapa was on Sunday suspended for 10 years from all national and international football activities on bribery and corruption charges. The Adjudicatory Chamber of the Independent Ethics Committee of the world football governing body Fifa slapped Thapa with the suspension on bribery and corruption charges. Thapa is also under investigation by local authorities on embezzling millions of dollars of football development money.

“I knew about his (Thapa) suspension through media. We will seek a detailed report of the matter from Anfa on Tuesday and after studying the facts we will decide on the course of action against him,” said the NSC Member Secretary Keshav Kumar Bista. “If found guilty, we will not spare him.”

Suspended Anfa vice-president Karma Tshering Sherpa, who has long been at loggerheads with Thapa, welcomed the Fifa action. “It was inevitable. Nepali football finally got justice,” added Sherpa, who sought a legitimate Anfa executive committee meeting to appoint an acting president. Sherpa said that the new Acting President then can call for the extraordinary congress to elect a new Anfa executive committee in the next six months.

Anfa Chief Executive Officer Indra Man Tuladhar said the next Anfa executive meeting, to be held late this month, will discuss the way out of the current situation. “The meeting will nominate Acting President, while other issues like extra-ordinary congress is too early to discuss as Thapa has the right to appeal against the sanction,” said Tuladhar. Thapa has 30 days to appeal against the rulings. If his appeal fails in Fifa, Thapa has already said he would knock the doors of Court of Arbitration for Sport.