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Tainted former Asian Football Confederation President Mohammad Bin Hammam today arrived at Zurich, as Friday mark the day, when hearing on his alleged involvement in corruption will begin. Desperate to save his career as FIFA aims to clean corruption within the officials, governing the world most popular sport, Hammam came out fighting on the eve of his arrival in Switzerland.
The 62 year old Qatari have been accused of attempting to bribe Caribbean Football Officials during a Caribbean Football Union (CFU) summit in May, where he is alleged to have offered a cash gifts of $40,000 each, in return for a vote in the FIFA Presidential election.
Hammam was accused alongside FIFA Vice President Jack Warner but following his resignation from all football related activities, FIFA decided to drop all charges against him and this development has left Bin Hammam facing the music alone. He however will have CFU officials Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester as his company when they appear before FIFA Ethics Committee on Friday. However the focus will be on the outcome of Bin Hamman hearings due to be announced on Saturday.
Bin Hammam stands accused of attempting to bribe Caribbean football officials to vote for him in the FIFA presidential election.
Reacting to reports that he will be banned for life, Hammam came out attacking FIFA in his blog which reads “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.”
“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.”
“My years serving football and FIFA lead me to think, and presume, that at the very least the Ethics Committee will give me the fair hearing that I deserve, uninfluenced by political agendas or other interests. “
“Notwithstanding the biasness and the absence of fair proceedings since the start of this trial, over the past seven weeks my legal team and I have been working very hard to provide convincing grounds that fair play was highly respected and observed throughout my election campaign… in accordance with FIFA’s own practices as laid down by its rules and regulations.”
However on a personal note, I feel Bin Hamman have been made a scapegoat after he refused to withdraw his candidature for the Presidential post, opposing Sepp Blatter. In the end, just a day before the election, he was suspended on charge of corruption which resulted in Blatter being elected FIFA President, un-opposed for the fourth consecutive time.
I somehow feel that, all these charges are a conspiracy by Blatter and his loyalist to ouster the Asian, as he was having a great chance of defeating Blatter in the election. Has Bin Hamman really indulge himself in corruption or is this a plot by Blatter and Co.? What do you think? Do give your comments.
