February 16 – FIFA’s ethics committee has opened formal proceedings against two former Central American officials after investigators recommended they be banned for life for alleged corruption.
According to FIFA, Cornel Borbely, Chairman of the Investigatory Chamber of the Ethics Committee, has completed investigations into alleged illegal payments Costa Rica’s Eduardo Li (pictured) and Guatemala’s Brayan Jimenez received from sports marketing companies.
The investigatory chamber has recommended both receive life bans for allegedly violating articles 13 (general rules of conduct), 15 (loyalty), 18 (duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting), 19 (conflicts of interest) and 21 (bribery and corruption) of the FIFA Code of Ethics.
Jimenez, a former member of FIFA’s committee for Fair Play and Social Responsibility, was found guilty July last year by a Federal Court in New York on counts of racketeering and wire fraud while Li was found guilty three months later of committing similar offences.
A FIFA statement added that “for reasons linked to privacy rights and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, the adjudicatory chamber will not publish further details at the present time.”
Last August, four months after initially pleading not guilty, Jimenez changed his plea and faces up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors said he negotiated and accepted bribes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in awarding media and marketing rights for his country’s qualifier matches for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
He and Li are among more than 40 individuals and entities charged as part of the US-led investigation into widespread corruption worth $200 million that has seen a spate of senior officials brought down.
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