The 62-year-old Qatari has been suspended from world football’s governing body since May following allegations that he attempted to bribe Caribbean officials to vote for him in the FIFA presidential election. On Friday Bin Hammam will go before the Ethics Committee, but in a personal blog post written on Wednesday he questioned why the people to whom he allegedly offered bribes had not been investigated.
Bin Hammam said: “Does it not surprise anyone that, although I have been suspended for the last seven weeks...for allegedly bribing individuals, none of those who it is claimed received those alleged inducements have faced similar action? Why was the FIFA ethics committee in such a hurry to suspend me before the FIFA election took place, and then begin to search for evidence to find if I am guilty or not?”
He added: “With just a few days to go before my hearing, there can be no doubt that there has been a campaign waged within certain quarters to ensure that I am seen to be guilty and eliminated from football in the court of public opinion, even before my hearing has started."
Bin Hammam also lamented information being leaked to the media in the build-up to Friday's session and called for a fair hearing. “(A) statement was made on June 23 by an Ethics Committee official that there is ‘compelling evidence that Bin Hammam had paid money’ to specific parties’,” he added. “Two days later on June 25, a high-ranking FIFA official told the media that 'Bin Hammam will be banned for life'.”
He continued: “Despite these clear attempts to besmirch my name in the public domain, I will not allow my own suspicions to dash my hopes or to make me think, as some would wish, that I will have to travel a long and hard road to clear my name of the stain of this politically motivated affair.”
