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by **Reg** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 4:13 am

Mohamed bin Hammam banned from football for life after Fifa committee finds him guilty of bribery.

Mohamed bin Hammam, the former Fifa executive committee member, has been banned for life from football after being found guilty of attempted bribery.

A hearing of Fifa’s ethics committee concluded that Bin Hammam had been behind offers or donations of $40,000 (£24,500) to officials from the Caribbean Football Union as he sought votes in his bid to challenge Sepp Blatter for the Fifa presidency. The scandal ensured that Blatter was ultimately elected unopposed, with Bin Hammam suspended just days before last month’s vote.

Bin Hammam, who was also the president of the Asian Football Confederation, will now pursue other legal avenues, including the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in an attempt to appeal the decision. He has always denied any wrongdoing and showed his disdain for the “flimsy” case against him by not even attending the two-day hearing in Zurich.

He later posted a blog on his personal website which reproduced a letter from Blatter in 2008, thanking him for his support in the previous presidential election. Underneath, Bin Hammam wrote: “This is only the battle, not the war.”

The verdicts against him, however, were emphatic. Chaired by Petrus Damaseb, a Namibian judge, the ethics committee found Bin Hammam guilty of charges relating to bribery and accepting or giving gifts.

The ban relates to all football-related activity, although Damaseb was unable to say if it would stop Bin Hammam bidding for construction contracts in relation to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Bin Hammam, a senior figure in the administration of Asian football for almost 30 years, was regarded as a pivotal figure in Qatar successfully bidding to host the 2022 World Cup but, according to sources, the ban will have no direct influence on that decision.

Jack Warner, the ex-Fifa vice-president, was also initially suspended for his role in the meeting between Bin Hammam and CFU officials. The probe against Warner was dropped after he quit all football activities.

Chuck Blazer, the Fifa executive committee member who reported Bin Hammam and Warner, was warned yesterday for wrongly suggesting some CFU members were “under investigation”. CFU officials Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester were banned from all football activity for a year.

Damaseb also asked for a further investigation into others who attended the CFU meeting in Trinidad in May.

Bin Hammam factfile

1949: Born in Qatar, May 8.
1972: Becomes president of Rayyan Sports Club who won the Qatari Premier League seven times under his presidency before leaving the post in 1987.
1973: Appointed president of the Qatar volleyball and table tennis associations, holding both posts until 1983.
1992: Becomes president of the Qatar Football Association.
1996: Elected to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) executive committee. Elected to Fifa executive committee. October: Becomes a member of the Advisory Council of Qatar (the national parliament).
2002: August: Elected president of the AFC.
2011: March 18: Announces his intention to challenge Sepp Blatter for the Fifa presidency in the June 1 elections.
May 25: Fifa's ethics committee announce they are to investigate four officials - including Bin Hammam and vice-president Jack Warner - following bribery allegations made by Concacaf general secretary Chuck Blazer. Releases a statement saying he is "confident there is no charge to answer" over the bribery allegations.
May 27: Accuses Blatter of knowing about the payments which led to bribery allegations. Claims there is a conspiracy to stop him running for Fifa president.
May 29: Announces he has withdrawn his Fifa presidential candidacy but vows to clear his name of bribery allegations. Fifa announce they are to open a full investigation into the bribery claims and suspend him from all football-related activity.
June 1: Blatter re-elected unopposed as Fifa president.
July 23: Found guilty of bribery and banned from all football activity for life.

by **ethanr** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 4:22 am

FIFA are just a bunch of criminals, but you can't go up against them or you will be imprisoned or killed. I'm not saying anybody has been killed, but would you put it past FIFA to kill somebody if they actually had evidence against them?

by **dawson99** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 10:45 am

Well now hes banned im sure it'll all be fine

by **metalhead** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:32 am

Sepp Blatter to go!

by **dawson99** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 11:45 am

metalhead wrote:Sepp Blatter to go!

but he has done nothing wrong, or nothing prooved to be wrong, are you Sherlock Holmes? :rasp

(yeah, he gotta go)

by **metalhead** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 2:20 pm

No I'm not sherlock holmes I'm richard castle and he is always right :rasp

by **dawson99** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 3:12 pm

metalhead wrote:No I'm not sherlock holmes I'm richard castle and he is always right

Richard Castle is awesome!

by **Reg** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 4:49 pm

dawson99 wrote:Well now hes banned im sure it'll all be fine

Someone else banned from New Kit, I never knew he posted. :rasp

by **woof woof !** » Sun Jul 24, 2011 5:47 pm

, soon as we find out what name Jack Warner is using he'll be gone aswell.

by **Reg** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 2:16 am

woof woof ! wrote: , soon as we find out what name Jack Warner is using he'll be gone aswell.

Blatter = Lakesie.... go on Woof ban 'im ! :laugh:

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Mohamed bin hammam banned from football for life - Blatter has to go next.

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