Why is my FBX SkeletalMesh import failing?

I exported the character as an .fbx file from the top-down C++ template and gave it to a friend who did some modification on it in Maya. Then he gave it back to me and I tried to add it to the same project with a different name. When I am doing the import by default it tries to import the mesh as StaticMesh, so I set it to SkeletalMesh and then press Import. The import unfortunately fails. Here is the error message what I get:

Note: If I import it as a StaticMesh it imports well.

Also I am a developer and I am not really familiar with this part.
What should I tell my modeller friend to fix this issue?

Thanks in advance!