Former OFC President David Chung, seen shaking hands with players in 2014, is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

Corruption allegations that stretch from New Zealand and the Pacific all the way to the top of world football are under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

After years of silence about the scandal, the SFO has confirmed to Stuff it has launched an inquiry into former employees of the Oceania Football Confederation.

One of the people under investigation is former OFC president, David Chung, who also served as senior vice president of the sport's governing body, Fifa.

At his peak, Chung was second only to the Fifa president, a remarkable rise to power for an official who had started out as president of the Papua New Guinea association, a footballing minnow.

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* Fifa bans former New Zealand-based OFC president David Chung for financial misconduct

An SFO spokesman said the complaint had been laid by Fifa.

Chung and the former OFC general secretary, Tai Nicholas, have been banned from football for alleged breaches of Fifa's code of ethics.

Nicholas has previously denied any wrong-doing, while Chung said he was resigning for "personal reasons" when he left his post in 2018 before a damning audit report was presented to OFC's annual general meeting.

SHANE WENZLICK Former Oceania Football Confederation general secretary Tai Nicholas, left, pictured before a 2011 tournament, was last year banned from football for eight years.

Representing New Zealand and other Pacific nations from its headquarters in Auckland, OFC is one of six global confederations under Fifa.

The SFO's involvement is the latest development of an affair that has bogged down OFC for years, and halted construction of what was supposed to be a vaunted "Home of Football" facility in East Auckland.

Fifa loaned OFC US$10 million for the two-stage project of sports fields and buildings on Auckland Council land in the suburb of St Johns. Work began in 2012 and was due for completion in 2016.

Instead, stage two ground to a halt in 2018, millions of dollars over budget, and mired in controversy.

It is at the centre of the allegations now before the SFO, with Fifa alleging conflicts of interest and the misappropriation of funds.

Court battles between OFC and contractors involved in the project have revealed other matters including allegations of inappropriate overseas travel and accommodation.

One court ruling noted: "On the instruction of Mr Chung and Mr Nicholas, OFC is alleged to have paid for flights and accommodation for OFC staff and their families to travel to China for Mr Chung's wedding, and OFC is said to have made a $10,000 cash gift to Mr Chung."

In banning Chung from football for 6 ½ years, an independent Fifa ethics committee said it had found him "guilty of having offered and accepted gifts, as well as having acted under a conflict of interest".

A lawyer acting for Chung, Bruce Stewart, QC, said Chung had no comment on the SFO investigation, or the Fifa allegations.

CHRIS McKEEN/STUFF Once talked of as a vaunted football facility for the Oceania confederation, the Home of Football project in east Auckland has been mired in controversy.

The committee's finding against Nicholas said he was "guilty of having misappropriated Fifa funds, as well as having offered and accepted gifts or other benefits" and banned him for eight years.

"The investigation into Mr Nicholas concerned the misappropriation of Fifa funds allocated to the OFC between 2014 and 2017 in relation to the OFC Home of Football, as well as to various undue benefits accepted from or offered to several football officials and other individuals," said a Fifa statement.

A lawyer acting for Nicholas, Paul Wicks, QC, said his client had no "comment about the investigation, or the allegations made by Fifa at the time of the ban it issued".

SIMON WATTS Former FIFA president David Chung, fourth from left, at a ground-breaking ceremony in Auckland in 2013.

Nicholas, who moved from Auckland back to his homeland of Rarotonga after he resigned from his OFC position, did however comment last year in a statement to the Cook Islands News.

In it, the newspaper reported, Nicholas said he had received no personal benefit from any payment or transactions, except for an unpaid unfair which he did not know was unpaid.

"If the payments that I approved for officials within OFC for medical expenses, life events or funerals of which were approved by the OFC Board is bribery and corruption then I would do it again without hesitation since under our Pacific Culture and Custom, the welfare of our community has to be paramount," the statement said.

"With respect to the Home of Football project - although I relied on staff and consultants to advise OFC on the contracts and payments for this project, as CEO you are ultimately responsible and I do take responsibility."

A spokeswoman for OFC said it was co-operating fully with the SFO investigation but could not comment any further.

As for the Home of Football project, new engineering and architectural teams had been engaged and OFC would be lodging a fresh consent with Auckland Council next week.

It was hoped a construction tender would be awarded in May, with building started in June to get the project back on track, she said.