Monday, May 30, 2011

FIFA has suspended two of its senior officials amid allegations that they bribed voters ahead of the organization’s presidential election, while Sepp Blatter has been cleared of ignoring these activities and is now set to be re-elected as FIFA chairman on Wednesday.

Mohamed bin Hammam, head of the Asian confederation, and Jack Warner, head of the Caribbean and North American (CONCACAF) federation, were both suspended from any involvement with association football pending an investigation into the alleged bribery.

“Both bin Hammam and Warner were provisionally banned from future activity in football while a full investigation is carried out,” announced Petrus Damaseb, chairman of the FIFA ethics committee. “There, they can confront their accusers.”

At a recent FIFA meeting in Trinidad on May 10 and 11, the committee heard that both bin Hammam and Warner were accused of offering US$40,000 in cash gifts to other national associations in return for their votes in the presidential election.

Blatter was also summoned to the ethics committee following allegations that Warner told him in advance about the payments. The committee later accepted Blatter’s testimony and cleared him of wrongdoing.

This decision clears the way for Blatter to be run unopposed for re-elections as FIFA president on Wednesday.