FIFA Extend Provisional Ban for Mohamed bin Hammam
July 26, 2012
Even though Mohamed bin Hammam was given the all-clear by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), FIFA have provisionally banned Mohamed bin Hammam for 90 days while they investigate allegations of financial mismanagement during his time as president of the Asian Football Confederation.
The 63-year-old Qatari last week saw a lifetime ban from football overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport after being found guilty in 2011 by FIFA’s ethics committee of paying bribes to Caribbean Football Union officials while campaigning against Blatter for the FIFA presidency.
Bin Hammam remained subject to a 30-day temporary suspension by the AFC – which was then extended worldwide by FIFA – following an audit by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) that centred on contract negotiations and payments to and from AFC bank accounts during Bin Hammam’s presidency.
And FIFA have now extended that ban further as they continue to investigate those allegations.
“At the request of Michel J. Garcia (chairman of the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee), Hans-Joachim Eckert (chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee) today provisionally banned Mohamed bin Hammam from taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international level for a period of a maximum of 90 days,” read a statement from FIFA.
“The decision was taken based on art. 83 par. 1 in fine of the FIFA Code of Ethics, in order to prevent interference with the establishment of the truth in respect of a preliminary investigation initiated pursuant to article 62 par. 2 of the FIFA Code of Ethics.
“The investigation aims inter alia at assessing the PwC report of 13 July 2012 in respect of potential misconduct on behalf of Mr bin Hammam in the light of the provisions of the FIFA Code of Ethics and at assessing the prospects of collecting further evidence relevant to the recently closed CAS proceedings in the case of Mr Mohamed bin Hammam v/ FIFA as well as at undertaking investigative efforts to this
