FIFA’s Appeals Committee met on Thursday to discuss the Qatari’s appeal against the punishment handed out by its Ethics Committee in July. A FIFA statement read: “The appeal made by Mohammed bin Hammam has been rejected and the decision of the FIFA Ethics Committee confirmed. The sanction of being banned from taking part in any kind of football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) at national and international level for life has therefore been maintained.”
FIFA’s decision was widely expected and Bin Hammam will now take his claim to CAS. A statement from his lawyer, Eugene Gulland, read: "As expected, the FIFA appeals panel, which met in Zurich today, upheld the 23 July ruling by the FIFA ethics committee, and we will therefore be taking our appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)."
Gulland also stated that a separate case will be lodged at CAS challenging FIFA’s right to appoint China's Zhang Jilong as acting president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in place of Bin Hammam. The Qatari remains nominally in charge of the AFC while he launches legal challenges against his lifetime ban. The AFC’s Legal Committee ruled in July that it is unable to elect a replacement for Bin Hammam until after May 30, 2012.
Gulland added: "Mr Bin Hammam has already gone on record stating that he was not optimistic of justice prevailing from the FIFA appeals process but this was a protocol to enable him to obtain access to CAS. History seems to bear him out as the FIFA appeals process has rarely interfered with the decisions of its football colleagues in other FIFA internal panels. We have also brought a separate legal proceeding before CAS which challenges the right of FIFA to designate Zhang Jilong as 'acting president' of the Asian Football Confederation and appoint him to sit on the FIFA executive committee. These decisions infringe the Asian Football Confederation's constitution."
Bin Hammam was handed his ban in July for allegedly paying bribes totalling approximately US$1 million to CFU officials at a meeting in Trinidad on May 10-11. Witnesses testified to FIFA that cash gifts of $40,000 were handed over after a presentation by Bin Hammam, who was running against Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency. The Qatari has consistently denied any wrongdoing and last week claimed FIFA would not have taken action against him if he was European, adding that Blatter and secretary general Jerome Valcke should also face corruption investigations.
