The Football Association yesterday suspended an agent for the first time under the powers that will be employed by Lord Stevens's investigation into Premiership bungs.

The agent Saif Rubie's licence was suspended after he failed to respond to repeated requests by FA investigators to submit information regarding his activities. There is no suggestion that Rubie is suspected of financial irregularities in the course of his agency work.

Where Rubie fell foul was in his failure to submit an accurate annual declaration detailing his registered offices and complete client list. The FA sent four letters to his registered address requesting updates, without receiving a response.

Having charged Rubie, whose clients have included the Nigeria international Julius Aghahowa, on September 29, the FA announced yesterday that it had suspended his licence. The agent claimed he had received no such missives from the governing body.

"I have never had an e-mail or even a phone call from the FA, so I can't say much about it," Rubie said yesterday. "The first thing I heard was when a friend told me my name was all over Sky Sports News. To say that they can't get hold of me and tell me what has happened, I think that's odd."

The FA disputes Rubie's claim, saying it has had telephone communication with him in recent months. Though unconnected to the investigations being conducted into financial irregularities in transfers, the episode might underline some of the difficulties Lord Stevens' Quest team faces in trying to contact individual agents.

Stevens revealed on Monday that, of the 150 agents contacted by Quest investigators, only 65 "responded fully". This lack of co-operation led to widespread incredulity that the Quest team's task of uncovering kickbacks in transfer deals can be achieved.

Central to that ambition are the FA's "powers of inquiry" which conceivably can be used to demand access to agents' bank accounts. Failure to comply would lead to the suspension of their licence, as was Rubie's yesterday.