The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) yesterday overturned a life ban imposed by FIFA against Qatar’s Mohamed Bin Hammam, citing “insufficient evidence” to impose the penalty.
But a three-member panel who considered the case stopped short of exonerating the 63-year-old, who was accused of offering cash bribes to buy FIFA delegate votes during campaigning to unseat long-standing president Sepp Blatter last year.
Bin Hammam denied wrongdoing in the FIFA presidential challenge, maintaining that the $40,000 in unmarked envelopes that were offered during the election campaign to delegates of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) were gifts.
He described the charges and his punishment as politically motivated. A one-time close associate of the powerful Blatter, the two became estranged following a falling-out.
The Lausanne-based tribunal said: “The CAS has upheld Mr Bin Hammam’s appeal, annulled the decision rendered by the FIFA Appeal Committee and lifted the life ban imposed on Mr Bin Hammam.”
But it added the three-member panel that considered the appeal “was unable to conclude to its comfortable satisfaction that the charges against Mr Bin Hammam were established” and considered the case “not proven”.
There was no direct evidence to link Bin Hammam with the money’s presence at a CFU meeting in Trinidad and Tobago, and CFU chief Jack Warner had initially said the gift was from the federation but later said it was from Bin Hammam, the ruling said.
The CAS panel said it was “more likely than not that Mr Bin Hammam was the source of the monies that were brought into Trinidad and Tobago and eventually distributed at the meeting by Mr Warner”.
The judgment does not mean that Bin Hammam – who helped secure Qatar’s successful bid for the 2022 World Cup – is free to resume footballing activities.
He was provisionally replaced after nine years as president of the Asian Football Federation (AFC) pending appeals and on Monday was suspended for a further 30 days over fresh corruption claims after an external audit of AFC financial accounts.
The AFC said the audit concerned “the negotiation and execution of certain contracts and with the financial transactions made in and out of AFC bank accounts and his personal account during the tenure of Mr Bin Hammam’s presidency”.
FIFA said it noted the judgment “with concern” and both it and the AFC said Bin Hammam remained suspended pending the outcome of the latest probe.