By Andrew Warshaw
July 20 – Mohamed Bin Hammam claims he will quit football once he has completely cleared his name after having his lifetime ban for alleged bribery surprisingly overturned.
While FIFA, prominent lawyers and others close to the cash-for-votes case that snared Bin Hammam a year ago expressed their shock at the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) verdict yesterday, Bin Hammam (pictured above) says he will ultimately walk away even if he technically ends up being allowed to resume his role as President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
“My wish now is to quit and retire,” Bin Hammam said in a BBC radio interview saying he had come across too much “malice and envy”.
“It is my wish to leave football.
“I don’t find any enjoyment in it.
“My enjoyment and entertainment now is outside the football environment.”
Bin Hammam was found guilty by FIFA’s Ethics Committee a year ago of paying bribes to Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials at a meeting in Trinidad and Tobago in May, 2011, while campaigning against Sepp Blatter to become FIFA President three weeks later.
He withdrew his candidature as soon as the story broke and although the CAS ruled there was lack of enough evidence against Bin Hammam, it also stressed damagingly that it was “more likely than not” he was “the source of the monies” in the cash-for-votes scandal.
Witnesses testified that after being addressed by Bin Hammam at a specially-arranged meeting, officials were invited to pick up cash gifts of $40,000 (£25,000/€33,000) per association contained in brown envelopes.
The witnesses claimed that Jack Warner, senior FIFA vice-president at the time, had told officials the money had come from Bin Hammam.
Although by no means totally exonerated, Bin Hammam clearly feels he has done enough to restore his credibility.
FIFA’s Ethics Committee has now been completely revamped with two separate chambers and two separate chairmen.
“I have one aim, one mission, one target and that is to clear my name and then I say goodbye,” said Bin Hammam.
“I have served football more than 42 years and the last year I have seen a very bad, very ugly face of the sport and of the football.
“The jealousy…I will not talk about corruption and other things everybody is talking about.
“My wish now is just to quit and retire.
“When I have been falsely suspended I have really found myself: Mohamed Bin Hammam the man, the family man, the man of his friends, going back to my business, I have found peace in the last year and I wish to continue like it.
“I am 100 per cent innocent in my actions in all the campaign and that was very important for me.”
Warner (pictured above) quit after the scandal broke, having been accused of facilitating gifts of $40,000 (£25,000/€33,000) each and totalling around $1 million (£640,000/€820,000) which had allegedly come from Bin Hammam.
CAS said in its ruling: “It is more likely than not that Mr Bin Hammam was the source of the monies” and that “his conduct, in collaboration with, and most likely induced by, Mr Warner, may not have complied with the highest ethical standards that should govern the world of football and other sports.”
Although the CAS decision has poured embarrassment on FIFA, Bin Hammam is by no means out of the woods yet.
He was provisionally suspended last week by the AFC following an audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) that centred on contract negotiations and payments to and from AFC bank accounts during Bin Hammam’s Presidency.
As long as that remains in place, Bin Hammam remains hamstrung.
He believes the suspension is another deliberate attempt to smear his name just when the CAS verdict was due but others disagree, pointing to the fact that the PWC investigation has been going on for months.
The latest suspension – this time by his own Confederation – has since been applied worldwide by FIFA and it will be intriguing to see whether and when Bin Hammam can make his next move to prove his innocence and, if he wants to, reclaim the AFC Presidency.
Meantime FIFA, not surprisingly, immediately defended its own position after the CAS ruling.
“FIFA has noted with concern the decision announced today by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the Mohamed Bin Hammam case,” a statement said.
“Moreover, FIFA has taken note of the decision by the AFC earlier this week to open a disciplinary case against Bin Hammam and to provisionally suspend him from taking part in any football activity for another matter.
“The chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee extended this provisional suspension to worldwide level yesterday.
“Therefore, Mohamed Bin Hammam remains suspended until the current case has been concluded.”
Contact the writer of this story at zib.l1734786679labto1734786679ofdlr1734786679owedi1734786679sni@w1734786679ahsra1734786679w.wer1734786679dna1734786679
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