LONDON: The international football organization, FIFA, banned Qatari Mohamed bin Hamman for life over his role in a bribery scandal that had shaken the football world. According to a FIFA satement, Bin Hammam was found guilty of “bribing presidential election voters just months after he helped secure [the] 2022 World Cup hosting rights” for Qatar. The ensuing scandal that erupted forced bin Hamman to withdraw his push to become FIFA president. He is the most senior FIFA official to have been convicted in the organization's 107-year history. A FIFA ethics panel ruled that the Qatari candidate conspired to pay Caribbean officials $40,000 cash bribes in May in exchange for their support in the election, the Associated Press reported. The verdict after a two-day hearing “was in keeping with the declared policy of the committee to show zero tolerance of unethical behavior,” panel chairman Petrus Damaseb said in public comments. Damaseb also called on FIFA to consider opening cases against three more executive committee members who joined bin Hammam on a fateful campaign visit to Trinidad. Bin Hammam's lawyer said he maintained his innocence and rejected the findings based on “so-called circumstantial evidence.” “He will continue to fight his case through the legal routes that are open to him,” lead counsel Eugene Gulland told reporters. BM
