November 28 – FIFA has banned Alberto Colaco, the former General Secretary of the All India Football Federation, from taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international level for three years.
According to FIFA’s statement: “Mr Colaco accepted a payment in the context of the elections for the FIFA Executive Committee at the AFC Congress in May 2009 – won narrowly by Mohamed bin Hammam – while he was serving as the General Secretary and voting delegate of the All India Football Federation.”
Mohammed Bin Hammam beat Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain 23-21 in the election in question which saw accusations of vote-buying by both candidates’ supporters.
According to FIFA, Colaco “was found guilty of violating art. 13 (General rules of conduct), art. 18 (Duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting), art. 19 (Conflicts of interest), art. 20 (Offering and accepting gifts and other benefits) and art. 21 (Bribery and corruption) of the FIFA Code of Ethics.”
Sheikh Salman went on to win a seat on the FIFA board in May 2013 whilst Bin Hammam was banned for life by the Ethics Committee in July 2011 for financial wrongdoing.
As a consequence of FIFA’s decision, Colaco will have to step down from his role as General Secretary and Consultant for I-League club Dempo SC which he took up last year.
The news comes following the controversy over Michael Garcia’s investigation into World Cup bids and after FIFA submitted a criminal complaint over possible law breaking in that matter to Swiss prosecutors.
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