Bin Hamman found guilty, banned for life

[ChesterDave]

On BBC News 24 ticker, waiting for a link.

[Bender]

**** off blatter .........

[Fernandinho]

Give us the world cup.

[SB]

Give us the world cup.

Hell yeah

We was robbed

[Arn]

Let Bin Hammam ban be a warning to others - Blazer

Chuck Blazer, the man who first blew the whistle on the FIFA bribery scandal, has welcomed the life ban for Mohamed Bin Hammam as a warning to anyone in football tempted to use corrupt means.

Blazer said the decision by FIFA's ethics committee showed the world governing body would take a "zero tolerance" approach to corruption.

Bin Hammam has already said he will appeal against the ban, imposed after the ethics committee found him guilty of giving or offering cash gifts totalling around one million US dollars to the 25 members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU).

Blazer, the USA's FIFA member and general secretary of the CONCACAF confederation, first instructed lawyers to gather evidence of the bribery claims after being told of the cash gifts by the Bahamas FA.

The two FIFA members implicated were Bin Hammam and Jack Warner, who had the investigation dropped last month after he resigned from all football activities.

Blazer told Press Association Sport: "I learned through some members that cash was being offered to members of our confederation for their votes and to me that's about as bad a situation as I can imagine.

"I believe vote-buying is unacceptable and I felt that had to be said widely and clearly and I am very glad the ethics committee has confirmed that, regarding bribery, we have zero tolerance.

"It sets a precedent and one that I fully support.

"It's a very good day for football in that it has been demonstrated that the process we adopted five years ago with the ethics code and committee is able to work.

"The fact we have suffered suspensions is sad but it will send notice to anybody else that might be considering that type of corrupt activity that FIFA is not the place to try it."

Blazer said blowing the whistle was not comfortable; he had sat on FIFA's executive committee with both Bin Hammam and Warner since the early 1990s.

He added: "I sat next to Bin Hammam for 15 years and enjoyed a very pleasant relationship with him.

"But when I saw the stuff which was happening, even going back to April 1 when he asked for this curious congress to be held, it made me raise my eyebrows and ask 'What the Hell is going on here?'.

"I had also worked with Jack Warner for 21 years but over the past few years as I looked started to look at certain things I felt very uncomfortable. This was not the way we conducted things in the past."

Blazer said that credit should also be given to those officials from the Caribbean who came forward and gave evidence.

Meanwhile, Tory MP Damian Collins, who is campaigning for the reform of FIFA, called for a new inquiry into Bin Hammam's other recent work within FIFA, and for Qatar during their successful bid for the 2022 World Cup.

Collins wrote on his website: "This is a day of shame for football's governing body.

"These are such serious charges from the FIFA ethics committee that there should now be a fuller inquiry into Bin Hammam's other recent work within FIFA, and in particular his role on the FIFA executive committee during the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups."

The ethics committee also issued a formal warning to Blazer himself for some comments he had made shortly after the scandal first broke.

Blazer had warned CONCACAF members at a meeting on May 30 that they could be "under investigation" when this was not true, FIFA said in a statement.

Blazer was however cleared of a complaint by a number of Caribbean associations that his comment had been racially-motivated.

Blazer acknowledged he had spoken out of turn, even though a number of Caribbean associations were later questioned by investigators.

He said: "I recognise that at the moment in time, and knowing they were going to be called as witnesses, I mis-spoke and regret having done so.

"I am however very pleased the judge dismissed the complaint that it was racially-motivated. Anyone who knows me would realise that was totally ludicrous."

Clicky

[dom9]

Am I understanding this correctly? The 40 odd people who received the bribes have not been investigated?

[Arn]

Bin Hammam calls for FIFA evidence to be made public

Former Asia soccer chief Mohamed Bin Hammam wants the evidence presented to FIFA that led to his life ban from football to be placed in the public domain, the Qatari said in a blog post on Monday.

The 62-year-old was banned by football's ruling body on Saturday after a two-day hearing into allegations he had tried to buy votes in the run-up last month's FIFA presidential election, in which he had challenged Sepp Blatter.

In Monday's statement posted on www.mohamedbinhammam.com, the former president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) again denied that he had used cash to obtain votes and reiterated his intention to appeal the suspension.

"If you wish to hear the evidence presented for and against at the hearing in an impartial way, then my lawyers have already said and requested that the transcript should be made available to the media by FIFA so that you can judge the evidence and testimony for yourself," he said.

"I have nothing to hide and I hope FIFA will not use confidentiality as an excuse.

"After all, FIFA's record towards revealing confidential information to the media during these proceedings speaks for itself.

"Nonetheless, I am the affected party and I assure FIFA that I will never sue them for releasing the transcript of the proceedings."

Bin Hammam also said that, contrary to reports, he had appeared in person in front of the FIFA ethics committee that heard the allegations but again called into question its independence.

"This is the most serious of issues for anyone to ever have to face," he added.

"My entire reputation and history are on the line. Given how the panel is appointed, does anyone really expect them to take any decision against FIFA? That is not justice. I need justice."

AFC president since 2002, Bin Hammam pulled out of the FIFA presidential race on May 29, leaving Blatter to be re-elected unopposed for a fourth term three days later.

Bin Hammam must wait several weeks for a full report of the ethics committee's sentence before he can start his appeal.

He will first have to go to FIFA's appeals committee and can then take his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Clicky

[Arn]

I didn't knew that Bender is writing the transcripts for FIFA