Malaysia’s Datuk Punch Gunalan, the deputy president of the Badminton World Federation, the sport’s international governing body, is at the centre of allegations of a conflict of interest relating to the federation’s decision to move its headquarters from Cheltenham, England to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia two years ago.

The allegations surfaced at a dramatic BWF annual general meeting held in Glasgow last weekend, when the organisation’s president, Kang Young Joong was handed a three-year-old letter apparently implicating Punch in using his position at the international federation to pass on to the Badminton Association of Malaysia confidential information relating to rival bids to attract the international federation’s headquarters.

In a surprise move, the letter, written by Punch and addressed to the BAM’s president, was read out publicly at the AGM by Joong. It included the allegedly incriminating statement: ‘Since I am able to get all the necessary information regarding the other bids, it is important that our bid is better than any of the others.’

Malaysia was involved in a bidding war with South Korea, Switzerland and the incumbent England, with the bidders becoming embroiled in making competing offers of benefits, including tax breaks, in their attempts to lure the federation, then known as the International Badminton Federation.

Others involved in the initial stages of bidding included Singapore, USA and Mauritius, and the letter contains details of the offers contained in their bids enabling, it is said, the Malaysian bid to trump them.

For example, Singapore, the UK, USA and Mauritius were all said in the letter to be offering free office space, with Singapore offering an additional 'operational grant' of $50,000 a year for six years, the UK and USA offering unspecified operational grants and Mauritius and USA offering use of office staff.

Punch could not be contacted to respond to the allegations yesterday and today, and other BWF officials were said to be en route to Kuala Lumpur form Glasgow.

Brian Agerbak, general secretary of Badminton Europe, today told Sportcal.com that he was awaiting a response from Joong to a request for an independent inquiry to be mounted into the allegations against Punch. There are claims that Punch could have broken the BWF’s by-laws by his actions.

He said: ‘Everyone was shocked that a letter like that existed.’

If Joong does not convene an independent inquiry, Agerbak said that Badminton Europe would file an official complaint to the BWF, adding that allegations involving a senior BWF official ‘cannot be handled internally.’

Agerbak said that he accepted that the two-year old move to Kuala Lumpur could not now be undone, adding that Badminton Europe would accept any solution or sanction proposed by an independent inquiry.

The allegations are the latest in a series of rows over the controversial move of the federation’s headquarters to Kuala Lumpur, which was widely seen as a manifestation of a power struggle between the sport’s Asian and European power bases.

However, Agerbak denied that Badminton Europe’s position was the result of a vendetta against the BWF, pointing out that it was the Asian and US confederations that had first raised the issue of the alleged conflict of interest.

He said: ‘Badminton Europe is only looking at this from the outside.’

The row follows the suspension earlier this month of P Ganga Rao, the chief operating officer of the BWF, whose responsibilities were passed to Punch before the AGM.

Ganga, who is also the secretary of the Badminton Association of Malaysia, is reported to have been barred from the BWF secretariat in Kuala Lumpur and did not attend the AGM.

The reasons for Ganga’s suspension remain unclear, although there are reports that it, too, concerned an alleged conflict of interest.

Ganga only joined the BWF in January, when he was appointed general manager by his countryman Punch. He was promoted to chief operating officer in March.

In a statement, the BWF did not refer to Ganga's case but said that Punch would be leading the administrative arm with full executive responsibilities for the time being. The BWF Council has already reconfirmed his status and title as executive deputy president.

The BWF’s move to Cheltenham was intended to bring the federation into proximity with the sport’s Asian power base but the move has led to problems, including delays and errors in announcements of results and world rankings.

In the midst of an election dispute last year, Badminton Europe accused the BWF of attempting a ‘takeover’ of Badminton Europe and other continental confederations, and of a serious ‘failure of administration.’

A truce was eventually reached in April under which Denmark’s Tom Bacher was re-elected after the withdrawal of rival candidates, some of whom were said to be backed by the IBF, and the two organisations pledged to ‘go forward purposefully together.’

Venues for the 2010 Thomas and Uber Cup, the men's and women's competitions, were announced at the AGM at the weekend, with both tournaments to be held in Malaysia.

However, the tournaments will be held in separate cities for the first time since 1984 in a bid to boost the profile of the women’s game, with Kuala Lumpur staging the men’s event and Ipoh the venue for the women’s competition.

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