May 28 – The reputation of African football administration has been plunged into yet more ignominy with former South Sudan FA president Chabur Goc Alei (pictured) the latest official banned by FIFA – for 10 years for misappropriation of funds and for bribery.
Along with the ban, which comes into immediate effect, the former FIFA standing committee member was also fined CHF500,000.
As so often with key African officials found guilty of financial wrongdoing, abuse of FIFA funding was at the heart of the investigation.
“The adjudicatory chamber of the independent ethics committee has found Mr Chabour Goc Alei… guilty of having misappropriated FIFA funds, as well as having offered gifts or benefits, in violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics,” FIFA said in a statement.
“The investigation… was related to misappropriation of FIFA Financial Assistance Programme and FIFA Goal Programme funds received by SSFA during the 2014 and 2015 period, and to payments made to football officials and other individuals.”
FIFA said Alei had breached article 28 of FIFA’s Code of Ethics which relates to misappropriation of funds and article 20 which relates to offering and accepting gifts or other benefits.
The ban on Chabour Goc Alei is the latest in a string of African federation chiefs punished amid unconfirmed reports that the president of the Confederation of African Football, Ahmad Ahmad, is himself being probed by FIFA’s ethics committee.
The ban on Alei will make awkward reading for FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Ahead of the FIFA presidential election in February 2016, Alei was one of the African federation chiefs to support Infantino. A few weeks later, Infantino made South Sudan the first member federation he visited as FIFA president.
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